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30 Oppn MPs were invited for meeting, no one turned up: Election Commission
The EC replied to Jairam Ramesh’s letter about march, where MPs sought to meet on issues like Bihar’s electoral roll revision and similar plans in other states.
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday said it had invited Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and up to 30 Opposition MPs for a meeting at noon, but the delegation did not attend. This came as a response to the Opposition MPs staging a protest march from Parliament to the commission’s headquarters.
In a letter on Sunday, the ECI wrote to Ramesh: “The Commission has considered the request made therein and decided to give an appointment for an interaction at 12:00 PM on 11.08.2025 (Monday) at Sukumar Sen Hall, 7th Floor, Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi… due to limitation of space, names of up to 30 persons along with vehicle numbers may kindly be intimated at the e-mail [election@eci.gov.in] (mailto:election@eci.gov.in).”
This was written in response to Ramesh’s letter to the commission informing it of the march and saying, "Thereafter, the MPs wish to collectively meet with the Commission on a host of issues including but not limited to SIR of electoral rolls being undertaken in Bihar and proposed to be undertaken in other states as well.”
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ECI said Ramesh acknowledged the letter but did not provide the list, and the opposition staged a protest instead. Senior ECI officials said, “Jairam Ramesh had acknowledged yesterday, the invitation for 30 MPs to meet ECI today at 12 Noon. Now he has changed his tone… How does one trust INC? They agreed to come with 30 MPs and then find ways to run away from EC.”
In a post on X, shared along with the copy of a letter, Ramesh said: “Here is our original request to the ECI. It is for the Opposition MPs to collectively hand over a memorandum and NOT for just a delegation”
The ECI also pressed upon Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to either submit a signed declaration or “apologise to the country”.
On August 7, Gandhi said, “We found 100,250 votes stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, in a building with 50–60 people living. But, when we go there, there is no record of those people...”
The ECI said on Sunday, “If Shri Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against the Election Staffs are true he should have no problem in submitting claims and objections against specific voters and sign the Declaration/Oath as per Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rule, 1960.”
The BJD on Monday said that it will approach the Orissa high court to seek clarity on alleged discrepancies in the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
BJD leader Amar Patnaik said the party had submitted a memorandum to the ECI in December 2023 highlighting “serious discrepancies” in the poll data. “ECI has failed to address our concerns or provide satisfactory answers. We would soon move HC on these discrepancies,” he said.
