New Delhi: Congress party cannot tell the Election Commission on how to conduct the Assembly polls or to conduct the polls, including implementation of VVPAT, in the manner desired by its leaders, the Election Commission informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The Commission gave this response to the petitions filed by Congress leaders Kamalnath for Madhya Pradesh and Sachin Pilot for Rajasthan, alleging large scale bogus or fake votes in the voters list for the two States going to polls in the next two months.
The EC said that the writ petitions filed by the two leaders ought to be dismissed with costs as the same is an abuse of the process of law, besides being misconceived and malafide, as the Petitioners are seeking to instruct, direct the EC of India, which is a Constitutional Authority, to conduct elections according to their personal whims and fancies and that of the political party to which they stand affiliated. Opposing a petition filed by Congress leaders, EC asserted that it is a Constitutional body that has to function in accordance with the rules and laws and not in tandem with the “instructions” of a political party.
It is not within the jurisdiction or domain of the petitioner and/or his party/organization to question the measures taken by the Election Commission with regard to the conduct of elections or preparation of voters’ lists. The EC further said that the political party to which they stand affiliated couldn't approach the Supreme Court time and again so as to re-agitate the same issue and interfere in the functioning of a Constitutional authority such as the Election Commission. The two leaders and their party "cannot seek to instruct or direct the Election Commission of India to conduct elections (including implementation of VVPAT) in a particular manner.
