New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday accused the Opposition of attempting to divert attention from developmental works of government, by making “baseless” allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI).
This comes a day after the ECI issued a press statement, following its meeting to quell reports of internal differences and clarifying the context under which a letter was written by ECI functionaries to the Cabinet Secretary.
Addressing a press conference, the Delhi Chief Minister said: “The opposition is attempting to create a situation in the country that has no basis in reality. Their sole objective is to mislead the public and divert attention away from ongoing development work, away from their own failures, and away from their acts of betrayal against the nation, towards the artificial crisis they have manufactured.”
“Today, they (Opposition) speak about the Election Commission and the Chief Election Commissioner, levelling baseless allegations against them, demanding arrests, and questioning the Commission’s functioning. I would like to ask them: was such transparency in the Election Commission’s operations possible during the tenure of their governments? In the past, the Election Commission used to function entirely under their direction,” she claimed.
CM Gupta asserted that the current Election Commission operates in a “completely transparent” manner, where decisions are reached “unanimously” by the three Election Commissioners.
She accused the Opposition of putting across allegations despite the Election Commission presenting every detail to the public.
“When the issue of ‘Form 6’ was raised, it was clarified that no changes had been made to it, a fact acknowledged even by the Supreme Court,” she highlighted, while refuting allegations of conspiracy.
Regarding the Opposition’s allegations that crores of voters were deleted from the electoral rolls to benefit the BJP, CM Gupta said: “(During the previous regime) Were you (Opposition) conducting polls by including those voters who had died or had shifted out? Now, when the real number of voters are out, the Opposition is finding fault with it.”
The Delhi CM underlined that Gyanesh Kumar was not the CEC in 2014, when the BJP won the maximum seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
“The people will demand answers from the Opposition for spreading lies,” she claimed.
Hitting back at Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s charge against the CEC, CM Gupta retorted: “Instead, the Opposition, including Rahul Gandhi, should be accused of treason.”
–IANS
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