Election Commission Sends Strong-Worded Response To Mallikarjun Kharge: Here's What The Poll Panel Said

In a strongly-worded response to Mallikarjun Kharge's letter to INDI Alliance alleging discrepancies in voter turnout data, the Election Commission (EC) has accused the Congress president of making baseless allegations to "create confusion, misdirection and impediments in the conduct of free and fair polls".

The Election Commission, in its unprecedented response issued on Friday (10 May), said that Kharge's letter was in the "genre of internal correspondence within a political party group", but he chose to make it public - a reference to the Congress chief posting it on X.

Condemning Kharge's question: "Could this be an attempt to doctor the final results?" the panel said it could create an anarchic situation, besides doubts and disharmony.

"Commission has faith that all stakeholders in Indian elections and most importantly the people of India will hold these observations of yours in equal contempt," it added.

Addressing the allegations levelled by Kharge, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, point by point, the EC called them "insinuations and innuendos" and an "aggression on vitals of live election operations".

On the key claims in Kharge's letter - that the voter turnout increased by around 5.5 per cent in the first phase and about 5.74 per cent in the second phase and that their release was delayed - the EC said there was no delay and pointed out that the updated turnout data has always been higher than what was released on polling day.

The commission backed up this claim by releasing a "factual matrix" of data from elections, beginning with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

On the Congress president's other charge that some media reports had claimed that the final registered voters' list for the next phases had not been made public, the panel said that he would know, "as a senior parliamentarian, a very seasoned politician... and as the head of a prominent National Political Party"  that the EC follows a transparent process of preparation of electoral rolls. 

This, the panel said, is made stronger by the participation of political parties and candidates at every stage of the process, ensuring that parties know the number of electors at every stage of the electoral cycle. 

Expressing its displeasure with the post, the poll panel wrote, "Commission wishes you to appreciate that your comments/ observations/ allegations given in the aforesaid post borders on vitiating the constitutionally mandated work of ECI".

"Through innuendos and insinuations, the contents of the post, tend to create disharmony in respect of the delicate space of election management, can plant doubts in the mind of the voters and political parties and potentially creates an anarchic situation, when you said "could this be an attempt to doctor the final results?" which this Commission hopes, you do not have any intention of," it said.

The EC also slammed Kharge for questioning the reliability of the EVMs.

"It is surprising, you have also chosen to make an innuendo that: "Is there an issue with the EVM." Commission notes that you, yourself, have chosen to indulge in utterances at this critical juncture with similar effect of discrediting election process and therefore, is being forced to find a pattern in such actions. A trend of irresponsible statements attacking or attempting to degrade the credibility of the elections in terms of men and material by a National Political Party is disconcerting," it said.

"Therefore, to uphold the integrity of the election process, in the face of an aggression on the vitals of live conduct of election coming from your statements, Commission categorically rejects your insinuations/allegations and advises you to exercise caution and refrain in making such statements," the EC said.

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