New Delhi [India], December 23 : Hitting back at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge over his remarks on the electoral process, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, Praveen Khandelwal said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) transparently conducts elections and the statements of Kharge are completely baseless.
Speaking to ANI on Sunday, Khandelwal emphasised that the ECI is an independent and unbiased unit.
"It transparently conducts elections. The government under the leadership of PM Modi encourages democracy and makes efforts to make elections convenient for the people. The statements of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge are completely baseless...Congress always loses the election, and then they blame the government. Such allegations are baseless and it is just an effort to weaken the democracy," the BJP MP said.
Earlier on Sunday, Mallikarjun Kharge strongly criticised the Union Government's recent amendment, based on a recommendation from the ECI, to the Conduct of Election Rules, accusing it of undermining the integrity of the Election Commission.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Kharge highlighted previous actions, such as the removal of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the ECI selection panel, and claimed that the government is now stonewalling crucial electoral information despite a High Court order.
"Modi Government'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.
This came in the wake of a recent Punjab and Haryana High Court directive in the Mahmoud Pracha vs ECI case, where the court ordered the sharing of all documents related to the Haryana Assembly elections, including CCTV footage under Rule 93(2) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
The amendment by the Centre now restricts public scrutiny of certain electronic documents, including CCTV footage, based on a recommendation from the ECI. The Union Law Ministry recently amended Rule 93(2) to specify which documents are open to public inspection.
However, a senior ECI official clarified to ANI that the candidate already has access to all the documents and papers, and no amendments have been made to the rules in this regard.