CEC slams Opposition for spreading ‘mischievous narratives’ about EC, polls
CEC Rajiv Kumar claims EC was prepared to tackle attacks from “outside the country” but “did not realise there would be attacks from inside too”
A day ahead of the counting of votes in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar came down heavily on the Opposition for spreading “mischievous narratives” about the Election Commission and poll process through the course of the polls.
Addressing a press briefing on Monday (June 3), Kumar said there was a design to spread “fake narratives without any evidence”. First, questions were raised on the voters’ list, then the EVMs, and next, the counting process.
The CEC also claimed that the EC was prepared to tackle attacks from “outside the country” but “did not realise there would be attacks from inside too”.
On postal ballots
Kumar said nearly all demands put forth by the Opposition concerning the counting process have been accepted but refused to give a straight answer on whether the counting of postal ballots would be completed and its result announced before that of EVM votes, as the Opposition has demanded.
He said, “Postal ballot counting will start first. After only half an hour, we will start EVM counting. There is no doubt about it.”
On Opposition demands
“Some demands were made by a multi-party delegation. We have agreed to all the demands,” Kumar said, indicating that most of the issues raised by the multi-party delegation were part of election manuals.
“This process has been going on for 70 years... We have instructed every RO/ARO. These are our orders and they are no joke… Everyone has been instructed to follow the handbook/manuals,” Kumar said.
“Fake narrative”
The CEC also dismissed all insinuations made by the Opposition regarding missing names from voter lists and the delay in publishing final voter turnout data after each of the seven phases, calling these part of a “fake narrative”.
On Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's allegations that Union Home Minister called 150 DMs and ROs (Returning Officers), Kumar said, “...Can someone influence them (DMs/ROs) all? Tell us who did this. We will punish the person who did it...It is not right that you spread a rumour and doubt everyone.”
“You cannot spread a rumour and bring everyone under a cloud of suspicion,” Kumar said, flanked by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and SS Sandhu.
“We were never ‘Laapataa Gentlemen’”
At the briefing, Kumar said India created a world record with 64.2 crore voters, including 31.2 crore women, participating in the Lok Sabha elections this year. He said over 68,000 monitoring teams and 1.5 crore polling and security personnel were involved in the world’s largest electoral exercise.
On social media memes calling election commissioners “Laapataa Gentlemen”, Kumar said, “We were always here, never went missing. Now memes can say the ‘Laapataa Gentlemen’ are back.”
J-K recorded highest turnout in 4 decades
Kumar said nearly four lakh vehicles, 135 special trains and 1,692 air sorties were used to conduct the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “Only 39 repolls took place in the 2024 general elections as against 540 repolls in 2019,” he said.
The CEC further said that Jammu and Kashmir recorded its highest turnout in four decades at 58.58 per cent overall and 51.05 per cent in the Valley. “Seizures of Rs 10,000 crore, including cash, freebies, drugs and liquor, were made during the 2024 polls as compared to Rs 3,500 crore in 2019,” he said.
(With agency inputs)