Congress attacks EC, says it crossed all limits of ‘shamelessness’

The Congress on Saturday, 16 August, lashed out at the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of having “crossed all limits of shamelessness” and asserting that a constitutional authority like the poll panel is expected to be the epitome of probity rather than shielding itself from allegations of large-scale irregularities in electoral rolls.

Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said that if the Election Commission claims to welcome scrutiny of electoral rolls, the chief election commissioner (CEC) and other election commissioners must explain why they continue to withhold machine-readable electoral rolls and CCTV footage from political parties.

In a post on X, Venugopal accused the ECI of “crossing all limits of shamelessness by shrugging off its responsibilities in the face of grave allegations of vote theft and mass rigging.” He added that constitutional authorities are expected to be “the epitome of probity” and should not “hide behind vaguely drafted press notes to conceal their role in undermining democracy”.

In response to Opposition allegations of tampering with voter data, the Election Commission stated that some political parties had not examined the electoral rolls at the “appropriate time” to flag errors. The commission added that it welcomes scrutiny of the rolls to assist officials in identifying and correcting any flaws.

Venugopal said the onus on catching the scale and volume of their vote theft cannot be on political parties and its BLAs.

He said the ECI claims "utmost transparency is the hallmark of electoral roll preparation".

Venugopal questioned whether these actions were in line with the ECI’s claim of promoting “utmost transparency,” citing: "Denying machine-readable electoral rolls to parties, removing already uploaded draft SIR rolls, deleting CCTV footage within 45 days, submitting before the Supreme Court that it is not obliged to disclose reasons for deleting 65 lakh names in Bihar’s SIR process, and refusing to meet opposition MPs seeking a discussion with the commission."

Sharing the Election Commission’s press note, Venugopal said its tone and tenor only heightened suspicions that the ECI would take no concrete steps to address the public’s grave concerns over the alleged “mass-scale vote rigging by the BJP-controlled ECI.”

Venugopal added, “If the ECI truly ‘welcomes the scrutiny of electoral rolls,’ the chief election commissioner and other ECs must explain why they continue to withhold machine-readable electoral rolls from parties and why CCTV footage is being deleted.”

In a statement, the EC said the period for raising claims and objections after the draft voters' list is published is the appropriate time for parties to flag flaws.

"It seems that some political parties and their booth level agents (BLAs) did not examine the electoral rolls at the appropriate time and did not point out errors, if any...," it said.

The EC noted that recently, some political parties and individuals raised issues about errors in the electoral rolls, including the electoral rolls prepared in the past.

With PTI inputs