Opposition, former election officials slam election commission's meeting with PMO

Congress MP Manish Tewari moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha over the Election Commission of India's meeting with the principal secretary to the Prime Minister last month, reported The Hindu. The ECI met with the PMO in an informal meeting after it declined to attend the initial meeting called for by the Law Ministry.

The Opposition has raised questions on the credibility of the poll body. The meeting raises "serious questions of propriety and autonomy of the Election Commission," wrote Manish Tewari.

Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala took to Twitter to slam the government and the EC over the meeting. "This is atrocious. How can the PMO summon an independent Constitutional authority? One mandated to conduct free and fair elections? Worse how could the EC be so servile & attend?? over ECs neutrality & fairness," he tweeted.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said the "cat was out of the bag". "...What was whispered till now is a fact. PMO summoning ECI was unheard of in independent India. Treating EC as a subservient tool is yet another low in Modi Govt's record of destroying every institution," he tweeted.

Not only the opposition but also former top election officials have raised concerns. OP Rawat, who served as the Chief Election Commissioner in 2018 said that ministries never issued such notices to ECI to attend meetings in the past. Instead, officials would seek to meet the commission at the ECI headquarters. He further added that the ECI did the right thing by reprimanding the officer who attended the meeting. Calling the meeting 'incongruous', he observed, "It will definitely affect the image of the ECI."

SY Quraishi, another former CEC, also noted that such a meeting never happened in the past. Terming it 'outrageous', 'cheeky' and 'presumptuous', he asked whether it was election dates that were discussed. The neutrality of the ECI is important and it must be seen to be practised, he added.