‘Puzzling’: Mallikarjun Kharge responds to Election Commission’s letter to him

Mallikarjun Kharge expressed surprise that the poll body chose to reply to a letter meant for and addressed to INDIA partners while ignoring complaints made directly to it

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday in his response to the Election Commission’s scathing letter to him, expressed surprise that the poll body chose to reply to a letter meant for and addressed to INDIA partners while ignoring complaints made directly to it. He also drew attention to the poll body’s lack of response to communal and casteist statements made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and expressed “misgivings” about the language of the EC’s letter.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. (File)

“However, the lack of urgency shown by the Commission in taking action against blatantly communal and casteist statements being made by the leaders of the ruling party that vitiates the electoral process seems puzzling,” Kharge’s letter said.

In its response to Kharge’s letter made public on May 10, the Commission had written, “Commission is not legally bound to publish any voter turnout data at aggregate level of a constituency or state.” Kharge admitted that while it was factual, it was a surprising addition in EC’s stance. “Many voters who are deeply interested in the elections would also like to see the absolute number of votes polled to be put out in the public domain by the Commission directly,” he wrote.

The EC had responded to Kharge’s open letter to INDIA partners on May 10. In his letter, Kharge, like other opposition parties like the TMC and CPI(M), and civil society groups, had raised questions about the increase in voter turnout days after polls ended, and the lack of data provided by EC. In its response, the EC accused him of making baseless claims intended to “create confusion, misdirection and impediments in the conduct of free and fair polls.”