New Delhi, Sep 14: Coming down hard on the Election Commission (EC) for its response on “vote theft” allegations, former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S Y Quraishi on Sunday said the poll body should have ordered a probe into Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s charges instead of “shouting” at him in a language that was “objectionable and offensive”.
Quraishi said many of the terms used by Gandhi while making the allegations, such as likening them to a “hydrogen bomb”, were “political rhetoric”, but asserted that the complaints that he was raising need to be investigated in detail.
The former chief election commissioner slammed the EC over the manner in which it carried out the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, and said it is not only “opening a Pandora’s box” but the poll body has put its hand in the “hornet’s nest” which will hurt it.
The EC has rejected all the allegations of “vote theft” in the past. It has also all along maintained that the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar will cleanse the voters’ list of ineligible people, duplicate entries and include those eligible as per law to vote.
“You know, when I hear any criticism of the EC, I feel very concerned and very hurt not only as a citizen of India but also because having been the CEC myself, I have also laid a brick or two in that institution,” Quraishi said.
“When I see that institution under attack or weakened in any way, I feel concerned, and the EC itself has to do introspection and has to feel concerned. It is up to them to stand up to all the forces and the pressures that may be influencing their decisions,” said Quraishi, who was CEC between July 30, 2010 and June 10, 2012.
“They have to win the confidence of the people – you need the confidence of the opposition parties. For me, I always gave preference to the opposition parties because they are the underdogs,” he said.
Quraishi argued that the EC should have called for a probe into Gandhi’s allegations instead of asking him to submit an affidavit.
“Rahul Gandhi is the Leader of Opposition (LoP) after all, don’t shout at him the way the EC did. I think it is not like the EC that we have known. He is, after all, the LoP; he is not a man on the street. He is representing millions of people, he is voicing the opinion of millions of people, and to say to him, ‘give an affidavit otherwise we will do this and do that’, the body language and the language used are both objectionable and offensive,” Quraishi said.
Asserting that the EC should have ordered a probe into the allegations, Quraishi said not just the LoP, but if anybody had complained, the normal practice was to immediately order a probe.
Quraishi opined that the party in power doesn’t need as much pampering as the opposition does because the latter is out of power.
“So the instruction generally to my staff (when I was the CEC) was to throw the doors open, if they (opposition) want an appointment, give them immediately, listen to them, talk to them, if they want some small favour, do it if it is not at the cost of somebody else,” he said.
Specifically responding to Quraishi’s remarks calling for giving opposition parties a hearing whenever they ask for it, an EC functionary said, “We are holding regular meetings with the political parties. I think at no other time has this been in such a structured manner.” (PTI)
