K V Seetharamaiah
AICC President Mallikarjuna Kharge has been gnashing his teeth at the Election Commission (EC) alleging that the delay in releasing voter turnout data was an attempt to manipulate the final results. Congress and other opposition parties have cast aspersions on CBI, ED, NCW and now EC. NCW has not been spared for saying “no victim has reached out to register complaint against Prajwal Revanna”. Even Supreme Court has not been spared. Congress has been shooting the messenger for its plight to be in power in less number of states than BJP. Negative campaigning has boomeranged the Congress party in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. What can EC do if the majority of voters reject any party? What is the use of blaming the mirror for showing us and showing to us as we are? The EC has expressed its annoyance at the conduct of the Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge for impeding the conduct of free and fair elections. He had also expressed apprehensions about potential attempts to manipulate the final results. All these apprehensions by the Congress chief show that he has conceded defeat even before polling is going to complete. In the event of Congress losing the election, Kharge may say that he had already predicted and expressed that the poll was not free and fair. He sees the credibility of the Election at an all-time low. The EC has rebutted the charge levelled by Kharge. It has reportedly written an unprecedented letter to Kharge claiming that his (Kharge’s) doubts will be held with contempt by the people. The poll body has found that the statements articulated by Kharge were aimed at pushing a biased narrative. I.N.D.I.A. bloc has locked horn with EC. Probably the performance of the parties in I.N.D.I.A. in the elections held so far seems to have disheartened the constituents of the bloc. The I.N.D.I.A. bloc has been pestering for action against Modi for his ‘hate speech’. A delegation of the opposition parties with 7-page memorandum has reportedly met the EC with its allegations raised by Kharge urging action against Modi. TMC leader Derek O’Brien has also insisted that action be taken against Modi and Shah. He has alleged that the EC listens but does nothing. How can EC act just to please the political opponents of Modi? Constructive criticism by the opposition has taken a back seat. If every criticism is to be considered as ‘hate speech’, then there will be no one on whom no action can be taken. Congress needs to set its own house in order before urging for action against Modi. Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole has kicked up a controversy saying that if I.N.D.I.A. comes to power, it will purify the Ram temple. Those who said that Lord Ram was imaginary figure and those who did not attend to the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya are talking of purifying the temple. He says that the four Shankaracharyas purify the temple. If these Shankaracharyas want the temple purified, the words have to come from them, not from politicians. If the Shankaracharyas want the temple purified it can be done even without I.N.D.I.A. bloc coming into power. Unnecessarily their name is being dragged to the dirty politics. Congress which wants action against Modi has not taken any action against Supriya Srinathe who asked the ‘rate card’ of Kangana Raut. WB Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has backed the remarks of Pitroda. Congress which has disowned his remarks has not taken any action against Adhir for backing Pitroda. Rahul Gandhi has made wild charge against Modi. He says women are bearing brunt of PM’s tacit support to criminals. Baseless allegations do not take anybody to greater height. If the allegation is true, Rahul must prove it. The opposition parties are dreaded of Modi because of his soaring popularity earned by his hard work. They are sparing no efforts to weaken Modi. As a last resort, it was petitioned to disqualify Modi from contesting the election but the Delhi High Court rejected the plea. Over 95 per cent of the legal battle fought by the opposition parties against the Modi government has been lost. Frustrated by defeat in the legal battle one after the other, Congress and its allied parties are finding fault with the EC. This does not bode well.
