Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge lashed out at the Centre for amending the 'Conduct of Election Rules', restricting public access to certain electronic documents. The opposition leader in Rajya Sabha charged the Centre is destroying institutional integrity of the Election Commission and it is not behaving “independently”.
Charging the amendment another assault on the Election Commission’s integrity, Kharge said in a post on X, “Modi Govt’s audacious amendment in the Conduct of Election Rules is another assault in its systematic conspiracy to destroy the institutional integrity of the Election Commission of India.”
“Earlier, they had removed the Chief Justice of India from the Selection panel which appoints Election Commissioners, and now they have resorted to stonewall electoral information, even after a High Court order,” he said.
Accusing the election body of behaving in a biased manner, Kharge said the Election Commission responded in a condescending tone to its complaints. “Everytime the Congress party wrote to the ECI, regarding specific poll irregularities such as voter deletions and lack of transparency in EVMs, the ECI has responded in a condescending tone and chosen not to even acknowledge certain serious complaints,” he charged.
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Kharge added, “This again proves that the ECI, even though is a quasi-judicial body is not behaving independently.” The Congress president said the party will take every step to safeguard them.
The government has tweaked an election rule to restrict public inspection of certain electronic documents such as CCTV cameras and webcasting footage, as well as video recordings of candidates to prevent their misuse. The amendment was introduced by the law ministry following a recommendation from the Election Commission. The Centre amended Rule 93(2)(a) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 to restrict the type of "papers" or documents open to public inspection.
Both the law ministry and ECI officials justified that the amendment was brought in following a court case. While documents such as nomination forms, the appointment of election agents, results and election account statements are mentioned in the Conduct of Election Rules, electronic documents such as CCTV camera footage, webcasting footage and video recording of candidates during the Model Code of Conduct period are not covered, PTI reported.
