ECI sharing differing views reflects pure democracy: BJP

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, September 23, said that reports about three election commissioners sharing differing views during official deliberations show it is functioning in a democratic manner, and it demolishes the opposition parties’ allegation that the poll panel is “dictatorial”.

The ruling BJP’s reaction came amid a row over a media report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had red-flagged multiple issues, including deletion of names, in various states during the pan-India Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ list.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “The media reports saying that the election commissioners shared differing views in official deliberations is a reflection of pure democracy.”

“If there is no communication and exchange of views among the election commissioners who conduct polls, the opposition parties would allege ‘dictatorship’ and call them ‘yes men’ of the government,” he charged.

The BJP leader said that the Election Commission’s statement issued on the issue shows that neither the poll panel nor any other constitutional body in India is under a “dictatorial rule”.

“This shows that the Election Commission (EC) and all other constitutional bodies are functioning in a democratic manner and upholding the democracy of the country,” he said.

“All opposition parties, who have been calling the EC and the government dictatorial, have fallen into their own trap today,” Patra added, slamming the opposition parties for levelling baseless allegations against the poll panel and the government.

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