NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday defended the election commission over the row surrounding an alleged split among the poll panel’s commissioners, with party MP Sambit Patra saying that internal deliberations between the three election commissioners were a sign of a healthy democracy. He also accused the Congress of attacking constitutional institutions after failing to win elections.Addressing a press conference, Patra referred to the EC’s press note and said correspondence among the three election commissioners had taken place on 14 occasions.“I am not here to hold a press conference on behalf of the Election Commission. I have brought the press note issued by the EC, and I have read it. I hope you have also read it,” he said.Patra said the correspondence showed that the commissioners had formally exchanged views and consulted one another.He added, “But now there has been correspondence among the three commissioners on 14 occasions. This is official deliberation among the three election commissioners. What do we gather from this? The BJP did not go and plant a story in the media saying that there had been official deliberations among the three commissioners. Such deliberations are actually a sign of a healthy democracy…”
Patra targets opposition
Patra also hit out at opposition parties over their criticism of the EC, accusing them of attacking constitutional institutions.He said opposition parties had questioned the functioning of the three election commissioners both when they appeared to agree and now when correspondence between them has emerged.“If the three election commissioners who conduct elections in the country do not communicate with each other, do not exchange views or consult one another, and simply keep agreeing with each other, then the Opposition parties say, ‘This is a dictatorship.'”“They say, ‘This government appointed all three of them, and they simply keep saying yes to everything. They are all supporters of Modi.'”Patra said the opposition had also used the term “Godi media” for sections of the media and was now making similar allegations against the poll panel.“You say the same thing about the media, calling it ‘Godi media’, and now you say these three commissioners are also ‘Godi’ people.”
Congress accused of attacking institutions
Patra linked the latest controversy to what he described as a broader Congress campaign against constitutional institutions.“You know how, since 2014, when the Modi government came to power, opposition parties have been falling one after another. They did not fall on a battlefield, but in the democratic arena, as their existence came under threat because they were not chosen by the people,” he said.
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He claimed the Congress had subsequently turned its focus to institutions after finding itself unable to win elections.He added, “After that, particularly the Congress party realised that it could not win elections, and so the biggest weapon in its hands was to ‘kill the institutions of the country’. It began attacking our constitutional institutions and trying to defame them.”Patra said the criticism of the EC was part of the same campaign, “In the same context and as part of the same campaign, several parties have held press conferences today regarding the Election Commission.”
