NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Friday pulled up the Union home ministry over reports that it had announced fresh compensation for victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots and questioned why it had not refuted the reports if they were untrue as claimed by the Union government.
The poll panel had last week issued a notice to the home ministry on reports that the government has decided to give fresh compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to over 3,000 victims of anti-Sikh riots as it violated the model of conduct which was in force for the byelections to three Assembly constituencies.
However, the bypolls have been cancelled after the Delhi Assembly was dissolved earlier this week.
In an order on the issue, the EC said the absence of a denial by the home ministry led to an “unmistakable impression” that a decision has actually been taken, while maintaining that the home ministry should give an assurance that such instances will not recur in future.
The EC’s order came after the home ministry’s response to its notice issued on October 31.
Referring to MHA’s response to an earlier EC letter, the poll watchdog said while the government has maintained that no decision was taken regarding compensation, the news was “widely published” and disseminated not only in the print media but also on the electronic media.
“Several panel discussions on various TV channels were also arranged,” pointed out the EC order sent to the MHA.
In its October 31 letter, the EC noted that the Model Code of Conduct is in force in Delhi where bypolls were to be held to three Assembly seats — Krishna Nagar, Mehrauli and Tughlaqabad on November 25.
