NEW DELHI, 9 May 2005 — In response to the controversy over alleged attempts to countermand the Chhapra polls last year, the Election Commission yesterday said it was beneath its dignity to respond to such “scurrilous and baseless” allegations.
The free, fair and impartial manner in which the elections are being conducted in the country, including Bihar, has been seen and widely applauded by the whole country,” the full commission said after an emergency meeting here yesterday.
“The commission considers it beneath its dignity to respond to the scurrilous and baseless allegations made therein, singling out the two election commissioners,” an EC press note said.
On countermanding of the Chhapra poll, the EC said the full commission had passed a unanimous quasi-judicial order on May 10 last year setting out in detail the reasons for its order.
Later talking to mediapersons, Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy said the charges made by Railway Minister Lalu Yadav on Chhapra polls were baseless.
“I feel very bad that such unfortunate allegations are being made. The Election Commission is a remarkably independent, credible organization. Just because one person takes a view doesn’t mean that the EC is wrong,” he said.
“All decisions have been taken unanimously and on the basis of factual information and analysis. This tendency to denigrate the EC is strongly condemned by me,” he added. Defending his own colleagues, he said that they were fair-minded people.
In his letter to the law minister, an IAS officer L.V. Saptarishi had claimed that last year’s elections in Chhapra, where RJD chief Lalu Yadav and Rajiv Pratap Rudy were contestants, were countermanded under pressure from BJP chief L.K. Advani and the two Election Commissioners N. Gopalaswamy and B.B. Tandon.
He also claimed that he has more proof, which he will bring out once Tandon takes over as the new chief election commissioner.
