The BJP hits back, asserting that the Congress is creating a ruckus instead of using the available avenues to seek their grievance redressal.
New Delhi:The Opposition and the ruling alliance parties traded barbs in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday over the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Leading the Opposition's charge, the Congress accused the Election Commission (EC) of being a government puppet. The BJP hits back, asserting that the Congress is creating a ruckus instead of using the available avenues to seek their grievance redressal.
Initiating a discussion on election reforms in the Upper House, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Maken alleged that the EC had become a puppet of the government and questioned how democracy can survive in the absence of a level playing field, transparency and credibility of the electoral process.
"India proudly claims to be the mother of democracy. The three fundamental conditions for a fair election — level playing field, transparency, and credibility — have been systematically undermined," the Congress lawmaker asserted.
Accusing the EC of refusing to provide machine-readable electoral rolls, hiding IP addresses and destroying evidence within 45 days, the Congress MP said, "Today, the Election Commission has become a puppet of the government."
"The EC's job is to win 'trust', but today its job has become to create suspicion," Maken added, citing examples of how voter turnout figures increased in Haryana Assembly elections on the day of the result announcement from the figures put out two days earlier.
The Congress MP said the poll body remained silent when asked about the origin of extra votes and Assembly and booth-wise data. He also accused the EC of not providing to the CID, which was investigating the matter of fake application forms in the Aland Assembly constituency of Karnataka, the IP address and port number of the computers from which the forms were filed.
Commenting on the absence of a level playing field in the electoral process, Maken pointed out how in the last 20 years, since 2004, the BJP's bank balance has increased from `87.96 crore to `10,107.2 crore, while that of the Congress increased from `38.48 crore to `133.97 crore.
The Congress MP accused the government of unleashing the ED and the I-T department on the Opposition party to deprive it of funds just ahead of elections, while also using the agencies to prevent businessmen and big industrialists from donating to the party.
"When the ruling party has 75 times more money than the Opposition, how can there possibly be a level playing field," he said, adding that all the money that went to the BJP was "all thanks to electoral bonds".
Hitting back at the Opposition, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi accused the Congress of creating a ruckus instead of availing themselves of the avenues available to them to seek redressal of their grievances.
The BJP MP sought to know why the Congress has not asked for CCTV footage of the Bihar elections even after 45 days of polling. On vote chori allegations in Bihar, he said the Congress' vote share has been reducing over the years, and there was nothing left there to be stolen.
Responding to the allegation of lack of transparency, Trivedi, citing media reports, said in the election for Congress president, in which Mallikarjun Kharge was elected, 22 Congress leaders sought voter lists, but they were not provided.
During the discussion, DMK MP N.R. Elango said that the people of India must know what happens when they press a button on the electronic voting machine, must be assured that their vote is recorded exactly as they intended and must be confident that their names will not be deleted from electoral rolls through bureaucratic opacity.
"The integrity of our election process cannot be a matter of probability or statistical likelihood; it must be an absolute certainty that admits no possibility of manipulation," Mr Elango added while questioning the functioning of EVMs. He also objected to the legality as well as the practical challenges in the implementation of SIR, calling it "specified inclusion and removal".
AAP MP Sanjay Singh demanded that the government inform the country of the reasons for conducting SIR. He demanded that elections be conducted through ballot papers.
When the AAP MP sought to raise alleged irregularities in the election process in Delhi and Bihar, deputy Chairman Harivansh urged him to speak only on election reforms, as his other remarks will be expunged.
The YSRCP MP Y.V. Subba Reddy said that the Election Commission should not betray the trust of voters, while Subhasish Khuntia of the BJD demanded fairness in the election process and better facilities for booth level officers as they are doing a tough job.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned at 4 pm after parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju requested the Chair to allow members to attend a prayer meeting. The deputy Chairman said the ongoing debate on the election reforms will continue when the House meets on Friday at 11 am.
