New Delhi, Aug 17 The Chief Election Commissioner’s (CEC) detailed presser on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar and rebuttal to ‘vote chori’ charges on Sunday, failed to convince the main Opposition party as it doubled down its attack on the poll panel and accused it of gross incompetence in ‘purifying’ the electoral rolls, as claimed by it.
Minutes after CEC Gyanesh Kumar rejected claims of voter list manipulation and also described itself as an unbiased constitutional body, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to his social media handle on X and termed these remarks as ‘laughable’.
The Rajya Sabha MP said, “The CEC answered none of the pointed questions raised by Shri. Rahul Gandhi meaningfully.”
Earlier, addressing a press conference at the National Media Centre in New Delhi, the CEC rejected allegations of any bias in the Bihar SIR exercise and said that its doors are open for all political parties. He also invited all parties to submit their objections and complaints regarding draft rolls, stating that there are still 15 days left for registering the electorate's grievances.
Jairam Ramesh, Congress’s Communications in-charge, also took potshots at the ECI and satirically remarked, “This was the first time that the new ECI was speaking directly and not planting through sources”. His taunt was directed at the regular rebuttals issued by the EC sources lately, over repeated allegations by the opposition parties, including Rahul Gandhi.
Responding to CEC’s ‘politics can’t intimidate EC’ remarks, Jairam said, “As far as the CEC’s threats to Rahul Gandhi are concerned, all that needs to be said is that the LoP in the Lok Sabha had simply stated facts revealed by the ECI’s own data. The ECI stands thoroughly exposed not only for its incompetence but also for its blatant partisanship.”
Notably, Rahul Gandhi has raised the pitch in the past few days, accusing the EC of colluding with the ruling party to manipulate the voters' list and also vitiate the polling procedure in poll-bound Bihar to benefit a certain party.
He also said that the EC’s press conference came three days after the Supreme Court rejected all its arguments to prevent publication of the 65 lakh deleted voters during the Bihar SIR.
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