BJP defends Election Commission amid opposition criticism over commissioners' correspondence

He said opposition parties had questioned the functioning of the three election commissioners both when they appeared to agree and now when correspondence between them has emerged.

NEW DELHI: Differences of opinion within EC are a sign of its democratic functioning, BJP said Wednesday as it mounted a strong counter-charge against the Opposition over its attack on the poll body and govt, saying its rivals have been trying to discredit institutions since 2014, including before the rollout of SIR, due to their dwindling popular support. "If there is no discussion of any kind among three election commissioners and they simply agree to everything, then these very opposition parties will call it dictatorship and claim that they were all 'yes men' because they were appointed by govt," BJP's Sambit Patra said.

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Now, the media has reported their correspondences as a divergence of views on the appropriateness of some measures taken by the commission, and this is a sign of a healthy democracy, he added. Targeting the Opposition for its allegation that BJP's impressive run of recent poll victories was aided by SIR, he said, "The statistics from Bengal expose the Opposition's narrative of 'vote chori', as TMC won 13 of the 20 seats with the highest number of deleted voters, while BJP won only six." Opposition's outrage is an outcome of its receding influence since 2014, when PM Modi led NDA to a huge victory, he said. BJP also cited alleged links of several past ECs, including ex-CECs M S Gill and Navin Chawla, to Congress during its long stint in office.

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