'Laughable': Congress on EC's 'no ruling, oppn bias'; continues its 'EC-BJP' consensus attack

Time of India

18 hours ago

NEW DELHI: Congress on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the the
Election Commission of India
(ECI), calling its claim of making 'no distinction' between the ruling party and the opposition 'laughable.'
Congress party
leader Jairam Ramesh sharing a post on X, accused the poll body of being 'thoroughly exposed' for its 'incompetence' and 'blatant partisanship,' after it dismissed the opposition's allegations of 'vote chori.
'
"Today, a short while after Shri.
Rahul Gandhi
launched the INDIA janbandhan's Voter Adhikar Yatra from Sasaram, the CEC and his two ECs began by saying they make no distinction between the ruling party and the opposition. This is laughable, to put it very mildly, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary," Jairam posted on X.
"Notably, the CEC answered none of the pointed questions raised by Rahul Gandhi meaningfully.
The ECI stands thoroughly exposed not only for its incompetence but also for its blatant partisanship," he added.
These remarks came shortly after Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the two election commissioners held a press conference, dismissing the opposition's claims of a 'vote theft' conspiracy linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of
Bihar
's electoral rolls.
Kumar had said that the Commission had 'no opponents and no supporters' and treated all political parties equally.
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"You all know that as per the law, the birth of every political party takes place only through registration with the Election Commission. So how can the EC discriminate among those very parties? For the EC, there is no ruling side or opposition side; all are equal. For the past two decades, almost all parties have been demanding corrections in the electoral rolls, and to fulfill this very demand, the EC has started the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) from Bihar," the CEC said.
"In the SIR process, all voters, along with the 1.6 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) nominated by various parties, have jointly prepared a draft roll," it added.
The Congress leader however, dismissed this defense.
Ramesh alleged that the EC was shifting responsibility, claiming that, "yesterday, the ECI had released a 'Press Note', the purpose of which was to place the onus of voter list correction on political parties and individuals.
This Press Note had also been met with uniform criticism from the opposition parties and widespread criticism from the general public.'
He further claimed that the real test for the poll body would be its compliance with the Supreme Court's ruling.
"All that matters now is simply this: will the ECI implement, in letter and spirit, the Supreme Court's orders of August 14th, 2025 on the Bihar SIR process? It is constitutionally bound to do so.
The nation is waiting and watching," he said.
Ramesh further drew a sharp connection between the EC's briefing and the Supreme Court's recent ruling, saying, 'Today's Press Conference also came three days after the Supreme Court had rejected every single one of the arguments made by the ECI to prevent the publication of the 65 lakh deleted voters during the Bihar SIR.'
Despite the vehement and documented objections of the ECI, the Supreme Court directed the publication, in a searchable format, of these 65 lakh voters with all their details. It had also allowed the use of AADHAR ID's to be proof of voter identity. The ECI had opposed every single one of these instructions of the Supreme Court, he added.
The Congress party's official X handle also amplified the criticism, posting a series of messages declaring that the 'Election Commission lied again.'