The Election Commission of India (EC) has sought detailed information from Congress leader Jairam Ramesh regarding his allegations that Union home minister Amit Shah made phone calls to 150 district magistrates just days before the counting of votes. The Commission said that, to date, no district magistrate has reported experiencing any undue influence. However, the poll body insisted on receiving specific details to address the issue in “larger public interest”, given the gravity of the allegations levelled by a senior leader.
“The process of counting of votes is a sacred duty cast upon every RO (Returning Officer) and such public statements by a senior, responsible and experienced leader tend to put an element of doubt and thus, deserves to be addressed in larger public interest,” the letter stated. “Although no DM has reported any undue influence, EC had sought details and information from Jairam Ramesh of 150 DMs to whom Amit Shah has influenced, as alleged by Ramesh and which he believes to be true, and had thus made these allegations,” it added.
On Saturday, Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, alleged that Amit Shah has been calling up district magistrates and collectors and indulging in "blatant and brazen" intimidation. "The outgoing home minister has been calling up DMs/Collectors. So far he has spoken to 150 of them. This is blatant and brazen intimidation, showing how desperate the BJP is," he said in a post on X."Let it be very clear: the will of the people shall prevail, and on June 4th, Mr. Modi, Mr. Shah, and the BJP will exit, and the INDIA Janbandhan will be victorious," he asserted.