‘EC’s goal is to strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality’: Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi: After the Election Commission of India (ECI) rejected the Congress’ allegations of irregularities in the recent Haryana Assembly elections, calling the claims of EVM tampering “baseless”, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Friday came up with the grand old party’s counter-response to the poll body alleging that its goal is to strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality.

Sharing a letter written by the party on X, Ramesh said: “The ECI gave a non-reply to Congress’ specific complaints in 20 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Haryana. Here is the INC’s response to this non-reply.”

Ramesh said that the ECI has not replied to its specific problem, rather it has given a generic answer to its complaints.

“The answer given to the question of the machines’ fluctuating batteries seeks to confuse rather than clarify. At any rate, the ECI reply is nothing more than a standard and generic set of bullets on how the machines function rather than a specific clarification on specific complaints. While our complaints were specific, the ECI response is generic and focused on diminishing the complaints and the petitioners,” Ramesh said in a post on X on Friday.

The poll body had also asked Congress and other political parties to avoid raising “frivolous and unfounded doubts”.

On this, the letter said: “If we were bad faith actors, then we would never engage with the ECI to begin with. We would not painstakingly document our grievances and present them with legal precedents and arguments. Instead, we would focus on naming and shaming the Commission with examples from the ECI’s own recent history which do not shroud it with glory… We would point out how the ECI never published a dissent note, actively suppressing it instead, by a former Commissioner in this regard. We would point out that the ECI has almost always fought any move for transparency and an increase in VVPAT verification numbers, with the same having to be ordered by the Supreme Court. We challenge the ECI to fact-check the above since it finds the INC’s misgivings to be based on phantoms.” (IANS)

Also Read: Two Trinamool Congress legislators in Bengal heckled, assaulted by own party leaders

Also Watch: