PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief spokesman in Uttarakhand, Suresh Joshi rebutted leader of opposition Yashpal Arya’s statements, stressing that the Congress is not concerned about the purity of the voters list or a transparent election process. The Congress is levelling baseless allegations on the Election Commission of India and other constitutional bodies in a desperate attempt to salvage the political ground it has been losing. This shows the utter desperation which the Congress is experiencing, Joshi said. “The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a transparent constitutional process of the ECI aimed at ensuring that every eligible citizen gets to vote. Those ineligible or with duplication should have their names removed from the list. The Congress should state what objection does it actually have to the removal of ineligible and fake names from the voters list. The Congress repeatedly questions constitutional procedures and then levels baseless allegations without evidence in order to create an atmosphere of uncertainty in the public,” Joshi said.
He said that instead of playing a drama, Arya should show concrete evidence of mischief being played in the voters list. If the Congress has any proof of discrepancies in the voters list, it should present the same as per the procedure to the Election Commission instead of limiting its role to making statements. “All have the right to ask questions in a democracy but questioning the credibility of independent and constitutional institutions just for political gains is not in line with democratic decorum,” the BJP leader said.
Whenever the election results are not in favour of the Congress, it blames the Election Commission, voters list and democratic procedures. The BJP believes that the voter is most powerful in a democracy and that the State government under chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami along with the Election Commission are committed to protecting the voting rights of every eligible citizen, Joshi added.
