EC's independence 'severely eroded' since 2014: Congress

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday said the Election Commission has refused to meet INDIA bloc parties on the issue of use of 100 per cent VVPAT slips and alleged that the constitutional body's independence has been "severely eroded" since 2014. The opposition party's criticism of the poll panel came after police detained National Panthers Party (NPP) chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh along with his several supporters after they tried to stage a protest outside Nirvachan Bhawan in Jammu against the "delay" in holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

A team of Election Commission officials led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar reached Jammu on Wednesday to review preparedness for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the Union Territory.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "The ECI has refused to meet INDIA parties on the issue of 100% VVPATs. It is a Constitutional body but its independence has been severely eroded since 2014."


"Its behaviour in Jammu is not surprising but is shocking nonetheless," he said.

Ramesh was responding to a post by a Congress leader from Jammu who said the Election Commission is in Jammu but NPP leader Harsh Dev Singh is detained for trying to submit a memorandum.

In a post late last night, Ramesh had said, "Now how about an appointment for INDIA parties to submit their suggestions for use of 100% VVPAT slips to be counted along with EVM result. 10 months. No appointment, only disappointment."