New Delhi: The BJP Saturday said the Election Commission’s latest statement has exposed the ‘lies’ and ‘malicious propaganda’ of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi on the SIR issue.
“Rahul Gandhi was lying and running a malicious propaganda. He is a non-serious politician,” BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
The remarks came after the Election Commission (EC) Saturday asserted that all orders related to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were issued after approval from all three election commissioners, and the changes in Form 6, through which names are included in the voters’ list, have been upheld by the Supreme Court.
Amid the ongoing row over “differences” between two election commissioners and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the EC said in a statement that the letters sent by the two commissioners “ Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi – to the Cabinet secretary were not related to any policy matter of the Commission or its IT division, but to the working of an officer on deputation to the poll panel.
The work re-distribution orders issued by the officer concerned were not actually implemented after the orders of the two commissioners, and the oversight over the IT division by the deputy election commissioner (DEC) was never actually withdrawn, the EC said in the statement issued with the approval of the full Commission.
Commenting on the matter, senior BJP leader Prasad said, “Based on a media report which was factually wrong, the opposition, especially Rahul Gandhi, was levelling baseless and shameless allegations.”
“The EC’s statement has exposed the Congress and Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
Prasad also took on the other opposition parties, saying they should work hard to win elections, instead of levelling baseless allegations against the poll authority.
The row was triggered after The Indian Express recently reported that questions were repeatedly raised on issues related to SIR within the three-member EC by Sandhu and Joshi.
The national rollout of the SIR has been under the supervision of all three commissioners. But Sandhu and Joshi formally objected, on record, at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions taken and orders issued, they say, without their knowledge, according to the report.