New Delhi: The Election Commission’s stern notice to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge for his “terrorist” remark for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is evidence of its functioning as an attached office of the Union Home Ministry, and its behaviour is an assault on the Constitution, the Congress alleged on Wednesday.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, made the remark after the poll body on Wednesday took “serious note” of Kharge calling Prime Minister Modi a “terrorist” and issued him a “stern notice”, asking him to explain his stand within 24 hours.
“That the Election Commission dances to the tune of the PM and HM has been obvious for some time. After masterminding vote chori in very many lakhs – especially in West Bengal – today it has given fresh evidence of its functioning as an attached office of the home ministry,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
Sources said the notice was withdrawn as it reportedly named TMC leader Derek O’Brien as one of the complainants on Kharge’s “terrorist” remarks against the prime minister. The EC issued a fresh notice with Kiren Rijiju as the sole complainant against Kharge, sources added. The EC termed O’Brien’s inclusion as an “inadvertent error”.
Attacking the EC, Ramesh called it ‘shameful’ and demanded the resignation of the chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
“Now @ECISVEEP has been caught LYING and brazenly CHEATING. Shameful is an understatement. The CEC should resign. He has lost all moral authority and is an absolute, unmitigated disgrace. History will record him as a coward who consistently chose to sacrifice Indian democracy at the altar of his master’s political expediency,” Ramesh said in his post.
Addressing a press conference in Chennai, Kharge initially referred to the prime minister as a “terrorist” while criticising the AIADMK’s alliance with the BJP.
Questioning how the AIADMK — a party rooted in the Dravidian ideologies of Periyar and C N Annadurai — could justify partnering with Prime Minister Modi, Kharge said, “How these AIADMK people, who themselves put the photo of Annadurai… How can they join Modi? He is a terrorist…
“He doesn’t believe in equality. His party won’t believe in equality and justice…” However, when asked by reporters to clarify the context of his remark, Kharge said he meant that the prime minister was “terrorising” the nation’s democratic fabric.
“He is terrorising people and political parties. I never said he is a terrorist (in the literal sense). He is misusing his power and government machinery to abuse and malign the opposition parties,” Kharge claimed.
