Election Commission not fulfilling its constitutional duty unfortunate: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress came down heavily on the Election Commission on Thursday for not disclosing voter data to the public and said it is unfortunate and condemnable that the poll body is not fulfilling its constitutional duty and that its inclination is 'one-sided'.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi accused the EC of trying to be 'the election department' of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by not acting on the complaints of model code violation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and instead, making 'false equivalences' by giving generalised directions to political parties.

"The EC has become one-sided and blind-sided to one particular party. All this is being done unfortunately, because the EC wants to become the election department of the government of India," Singhvi told a press conference here.

His comments came after the EC gave an affidavit in the Supreme Court, saying 'indiscriminate disclosure' of polling station-wise voter-turnout data and posting it on its website will cause chaos in the election machinery, which is already in motion for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

Singhvi said the EC's actions on complaints against the BJP top brass and in the non-disclosure of the voter data do not befit a high-level constitutional institution.

"This is against the constitutional responsibilities of the institution. This is the Election Commission, not the election agent of any party. When a constitutional institution does not follow the Constitution and shows inclination towards power, then it should be understood that this is the end of democracy," he said.

The Congress leader said the poll panel had instructed that one cannot say things that raise questions on the Constitution, asserting that 'we are openly saying that unless there is a violation of the code of conduct, the EC does not have the right to decide who will say what'.

"Today, the identity of India, the thinking of India, the basic structure of the Constitution is in danger. This is very unfortunate," he said.

Singhvi also questioned the purpose of 'hiding' Form 17C, which is meant to increase the faith of the public in the poll process.

"It is the EC's constitutional duty to share it with all. Opposing it in such a way is condemnable and unfortunate and exposes the EC in every manner.

"We are not asking the EC about EVMs (electronic voting machines) but about disclosure of data. Through this stand in its ridiculous affidavit, the EC is falling into the BJP's trap to orchestrate decimation and destruction of electoral democracy," he said.

Singhvi said the EC's first point is that it is undesirable and unfeasible to give this data and secondly, it says a disclosure in Form 17C is amenable to vitiation of the entire electoral space and there is a possibility of images being morphed.

"This is like a fabrile and fertile imagination of the EC running amok," he said.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said Form 17C is an important document that informs the public about the voter turnout in a particular booth.

"What does the ECI have to hide? Why is it hell bent on completely destroying its credibility, at a time when its attitude towards disclosing voter turnout figures has come under so much doubt?" he asked.

"As the opposition, we are deeply concerned that a body that is supposed to be neutral and above all doubt is going out of its way to appear dodgy and cause further mistrust among the public with such stances," Venugopal said.

Singhvi said according to the EC, the data could be tampered with, someone can morph the photos, but added that in this way, no data can be uploaded. 'This reply of the EC is just an escape mechanism. This is unfortunate and shows that the EC's inclination is one-sided,' he said.

"The EC is as much on trial as the political parties we oppose. The political parties can fail the trial but the EC cannot afford to fail the trial. The EC has not passed the high constitutional obligations and tests imposed upon it. It is time that the EC rose to the occasion and dealt with these issues on a constitutional basis. It has voted for concealment instead of transparency," the Congress leader alleged.

He said almost a month has lapsed since complaints about 'horrible' speeches were made to the EC, but not a word or whisper has been heard from the poll panel about the prime minister or the home minister.

"Not one word in the EC's response. Why this fear and hesitation when these two names come up? Why this terror? Not a single warning, not a single prohibition, not a day's suspension, not any fault finding and rather delightful vague generalities instead.

"The EC does not have the guts to say that such and such person has violated the model code. Have you forgotten your legacy, your status, your 75 years of constitutional status?" Singhvi asked.

He claimed that in the last 75 years, the country has not seen a prime minister using the kind of language that Modi does.

"And yet the EC is quiet, avoiding the real issue and indulging in absolute generalities and sermonising. The EC has become one-sided and blind-sided to one particular party. All this is being done unfortunately, because the EC wants to become the election department of the government of India," Singhvi alleged.