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A day after the Election Commission issued a notice to the Congress seeking evidence of corruption allegations it leveled against the Karnataka government, the Congress on Sunday sent a strongly worded response, accusing the polling body of roughly showing bias and adopting double standards while handling complaints against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
The European Commission’s notification to Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar on Saturday came after the BJP lodged a complaint against the Congress’ “Corruption Rate Card” declaration, in which it allegedly offered sums as bribes for government appointments, transfers and deals.
In its response, which was provided by noted lawyer and prominent Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi, the Congress noted that the European Commission “with its broad powers of oversight, could have chosen to investigate the allegations, for which evidence is in the public domain, but has instead chosen to prosecute the party Which sheds light on the rampant corruption that the people of the state suffer from.”
“This proactive zeal appears to be confined to the opposition only, as we have through the many detailed, documented and numbered representations which have sought to bring to the attention of the Commission the egregious, shocking, egregious, outrageous and repeated violations of almost every electoral guidelines by Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, JB Nada, (Yogi) Adityanath as well as other leaders of the BJP. However, not a single exposure notice has been issued for these willful violations. Forget about pursuing criminal proceedings, not a single conviction or censure has been issued for naming and shaming these individuals by the Commission.”
As for the notification, Congress said the political advertisement under scrutiny made no mention of the BJP nor any person or candidate. “Our reference to ‘40% Sarkara’ is supported by evidence readily available in the public domain and has been covered over the past year in all the leading newspapers of Karnataka as well as on television. Neither the BJP nor the Bommai government have taken action.”
Congress has argued that a BJP MLA who has “spoken out about the post of Chief Minister being sold for 2,500 crore has been re-nominated as a candidate by the BJP… Even the Karnataka Contractors Association, of 50,000 contractors, has publicly announced the 40% demanded The Bommai government is commission, it has appointed a number of BJP legislators and the amount obtained in bribes…the School Association representing 40,000 private schools…has spoken openly of the 40% demanded by the BJP government… Dingaleshwar Swamiji of the Math in Gadag, Karnataka, has spoken out about the 30% commission demanded by the Bommai government to release scholarships for mathematics,” she said.
Congress said it would “collect” the “mentioned evidence” and present it to the European Commission “provided we are given reasonable time and a personal hearing”.
Interestingly, the Congress response mentioned 11 complaints filed with the European Commission against BJP leaders and against “a political declaration by the BJP where it was alleged that Congress would remit funds sent to citizens”.
In his election speeches, the Congress said, Prime Minister Modi had made “widespread false statements against Congress, including accusing it of supporting terrorists.” His colleagues accused Congress of supporting the Freedom and Justice Party and threatened the country with communal riots. These are just the tip of the iceberg…if the Electoral Commission chooses to The Independent ignores the outrageous and horrific cases of hate speech, direct and undisguised religious calls for votes, statements that defame reputation to an unprecedented level of malice, and false statements known to be false, which are not only likely, but deliberately designed to harm the peaceful and fair conduct of elections. It could adopt a different standard in a situation where another party has expressed genuine concern.”
The Congress alleged that the actions taken by the European Commission during the current elections, are “an apparent violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, which provide an essential safeguard against arbitrariness in administrative proceedings as well as against partisan acts of official bad faith, violations of natural justice and which provide the most vital guarantee of equality.” “.
“To be clear, we are left with no choice but to sadly say that the Independent Electoral Commission can never allow itself to be seen as an organization that on the one hand Nelson turns a blind eye to the flagrant abuses of the ruling party and its high-ranking officials in office, and on the other hand it is seen as However, they are unfortunately tipping at windmills as far as members in the opposition space are concerned, including Congress,” the party said in its response.
“This treatment of the Election Commission not only violates the basic guarantees of the constitution, but also directly violates the concept of equality before the law and holding ‘free and fair’ elections,” the statement read.
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