Election Commission not timid, decisions taken collectively, says CEC VS Sampath

Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath on Saturday dismissed reports of their being differences between him and the two other Election Commissioners -- Harishankar Brahma and Syed Nazim Ahmad Zaidi.

He said that the top leadership of the commission acts as a team and is discharging its constitutional responsibilities with firmness and required promptitude. "The EC consists of three commissioners and Mr. Brahma is one of them. All decisions are taken collectively. The EC is a body where all three commissioners are equal. So, all our decisions are taken unanimously," Sampath said.

Samath's statement came a day after Brahma had admitted to their being a "communication gap" between Varanasi District Magistrate and returning officer Prajwal Yadav and the BJP over the issue of granting permission for a rally in the Muslim-dominant and congested Bemiyan area of Varanasi.

He also regretted the delay in disposing of the matter. "We deliberated for six hours on this," Sampath stated on Brahma's allegations.

This was in complete contrast to what Sampath had said. He had earlier stoutly defended the Varanasi administration for not granting permission to BJP's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi to hold a rally in Varanasi.