Very much contrary to the feeling among Opposition parties, former President Pranab Mukherjee has come out and praised the Election Commission on their ‘perfect’ handling of the Lok Sabha Polls on Monday, 20 May.
Reported by NDTV, former finance minister under the UPA government, Pranab Mukherjee applauded the EC’s efforts said they ‘could not be criticised’.
“If we want to strengthen institutions, we have to keep in mind that institutions are serving well in this country, and if democracy has succeeded, it’s largely due to the perfect conduct of elections by all Election Commissioners starting from Sukumar Sen to the present Election Commissioners. All are appointed by the executive and they are doing their job well. You can’t criticise them. It was perfect conduct of the elections.”Pranab Mukherjee, Former President of India
The former president's endorsement comes a day after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of capitulating to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP despite its constitutional responsibility to ensure a level playing field to all political parties.
The Congress chief expressed his dismay on Twitter on Sunday, 19 May, after the last phase of voting was completed.
Other than the Congress, the Trinamool Congress was the EC’s strongest critic, with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accusing it of taking a number of "illegal, unconstitutional and biased decisions" under the influence of the ruling BJP.
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