New Delhi: Congress General Secretary and MP K.C. Venugopal launched a blistering attack on the NDA government in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday while opposing the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, accusing the Centre of systematically destroying the independence of the ECI.
“The idea of an impartial electoral umpire has been openly crushed. The Election Commission has now collapsed under political pressure and has become partisan,” Venugopal said, while the Lok Sabha continued to debate on electoral reforms, adding that the right to vote is not a mercy granted by any government but a fundamental principle of democracy.
Quoting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Venugopal alleged that wherever elections were near, the BJP government started SIR (Special Intensive Revision). “It happened in Bihar, and now it is happening as elections are nearing in several states,” he said.
He reminded the House of the freezing of all Congress bank accounts just weeks before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections over what he called a trivial two-week delay in filing income tax returns. “Can any democratic country in the world imagine the principal opposition party’s accounts being frozen on such flimsy grounds, deliberately timed before a general election?” he asked.
Venugopal accused the central agencies of being weaponised only against the opposition. “The moment elections are announced, Income Tax, CBI, and ED become hyperactive — raids every day on opposition leaders. Nothing ever happens to BJP leaders; they are discharged and walk free,” he said.
The Congress leader cited Constituent Assembly debates and the Supreme Court’s 2023 verdict in the Anoop Baranwal case, where a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice K.M. Joseph had mandated a selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India to appoint Election Commissioners.
“The Supreme Court wanted a neutral umpire for free and fair elections. The very next session, this government brought a law that removed the Chief Justice and replaced him with a Cabinet Minister of the Prime Minister’s choice. Your fear of an independent Chief Justice is crystal clear,” Venugopal charged.
He reserved his sharpest attack for the new clause granting complete legal immunity to the Election Commission and its officers. “From 1950 to 2023, no Election Commission ever asked for such immunity. Brave and neutral Commissions functioned without it. Why this sudden demand in 2023? Only one answer – guilty conscience. This is not immunity; this is impunity. This is a lifetime washing machine for the Election Commission,” he alleged, pointing towards the Treasury benches.
(IANS)
