'Directionless leadership responsible, not EC': Shivraj Chouhan on Congress' poll defeats
Union minister criticizes Congress for targeting the Election Commission over electoral losses and highlights internal infighting.
Quick Look
Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan blamed Congress's directionless leadership for its electoral defeats and criticized the party for targeting the Election Commission, amid ongoing protests demanding the CEC's resignation.
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Why It Matters
Congress protests are demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral roll irregularities.
NEW DELHI: Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday blamed the Congress’s “directionless leadership” for its continued electoral defeats and criticised the opposition party for holding institutions such as the Election Commission (EC) responsible for its repeated losses.
“Losing elections back-to-back and reacting by taking out protests and taking matters to the streets has become the fate of the Congress... The reason for this is not the Election Commission, but the directionless leadership of Congress itself,” Chouhan remarked at a press conference at the headquarters of the ruling BJP in the capital.
He also cited recent instances of infighting within the Congress, including in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, as contributing to the party’s electoral setbacks. In Punjab, the Congress replaced Amarinder Singh Raja Warring with Pargat Singh as state unit president amid escalating tensions between Warring’s camp and that of former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi. In Uttar Pradesh, supporters of newly appointed state Congress chief Aradhana Misra clashed with those of her predecessor, Ajay Rai.
“There is continuous infighting in Uttar Pradesh, the state president in Punjab had to be changed, internal leadership feuds are ongoing in various places... It is the leadership of Congress—a leadership that does not know the country, its people,” Chouhan added.
Chouhan further accused the grand old party of repeatedly targeting constitutional institutions over the years, alleging that the party had made it a pattern to blame these institutions for its electoral defeats.
“For several years, the Congress party has been continuously attacking constitutional institutions. It has reached a point where blaming constitutional institutions for election defeats has become a pattern,” he asserted.
His remarks came amid intensifying Congress protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Kumar has also come under scrutiny following a media report claiming that the two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had formally raised objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions they alleged were taken without their knowledge.
Open Questions
- How will the Election Commission address the internal objections raised by commissioners?
