Election Commission: 'No Ruling Party, No Opposition, All Equal' Amid 'Vote Theft' Claims

by shalini jha |
Election Commission: No Ruling Party, No Opposition, All Equal Amid Vote Theft Claims
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New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Amidst the opposition's allegations of 'vote theft', the Election Commission held a press conference on Sunday. Chief Election Commissioner of India Gyanesh Kumar said that the Election Commission treats all political parties equally, because every party is born from registration with the Commission. The Chief Election Commissioner clarified that for the Commission there is no ruling party or opposition, all parties are equal.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said during the press conference, "Every political party is born from registration with the Election Commission as per the law, so how can the Election Commission discriminate between those political parties? For the Election Commission, there is no ruling party or opposition, all are equivalent. No matter who belongs to any political party, the Election Commission will not shy away from its constitutional duty." He said, "For the last two decades, almost all political parties have been demanding correction of errors in the voter list. To meet this demand, the Election Commission has started a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) from Bihar. In the process of SIR, all voters, booth level officers and 1.6 lakh BLAs nominated by all political parties have together prepared a draft list."

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said, "According to the Constitution of India, every Indian citizen who has attained the age of 18 years should become a voter and should also vote." Referring to the opposition showing pictures of voters in the media, Gyanesh Kumar said, "We saw a few days ago that pictures of many voters were presented to the media without their permission. They were accused, they were used. Should the Election Commission share CCTV footage of voters, their mothers, daughters-in-law or daughters? Only those whose names are in the voter list cast their vote to elect their candidate."

He said, “In the process of Lok Sabha elections, more than one crore employees, more than 10 lakh booth level agents, more than 20 lakh polling agents of candidates work for the elections. In such a transparent process in front of so many people, can any voter steal his vote? Some voters alleged double voting, but when asked for proof, no answer was received. Neither the Election Commission nor any voter is afraid of such false allegations. When politics is being done by targeting the voters of India by keeping a gun on the shoulder of the Election Commission, in such a situation, the Election Commission today wants to make it clear to everyone that we fearlessly stood like a rock with all the voters of all sections and all religions including the poor, rich, elderly, women and youth, we are standing and will continue to stand with us.”

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