The BJP, on Tuesday, complained against the Election Commission for its alleged “partisan and tough” actions against the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat.
Alleges that the commission is acting tough against Modi govt
NEW DELHI: The BJP, on Tuesday, complained against the Election Commission for its alleged “partisan and tough” actions against the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat.
It said that the commission has “double standards” and has displayed “rigidity in the case of Gujarat and laxity in the case of Himachal Pradesh”.
BJP general secretary and party’s in-charge for Gujarat, Arun Jaitley asked, “Why are BJP-ruled states being singled out for action by the Election Commission? Why has a single transfer of an official not place taken in the Congress-led Himachal Pradesh?”
The party, however, was cautious to not officially protest against the transfer of some senior Gujarat officials. It chose a rather innocuous subject to target the EC. The EC had recently instructed the Gujarat government to remove photographs of state ministers from official websites of various departments of the Gujarat government.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalswami, BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar said, “We are at a loss to understand why such instructions have been given when websites are not on par with advertisements in print and electronic media which cater to the general public. More than this, we are at a loss to understand why such instructions are being made Gujarat specific.”
The party said it would have been more appropriate if such instructions, if considered necessary, were made to have universal application. No such instruction has been issued to Himachal Pradesh, which will go to the polls along with Gujarat, it said.
The Himachal Pradesh government websites carry the photographs and activities of chief minister Virbhadra Singh and other ministers. “Otherwise, this will give the wrong signal that Gujarat government alone is on a wrong track, which is being corrected by the EC,” Javdekar said.
The BJP questioned the EC’s move saying that the union government websites and its agencies carry photographs of central ministers from Gujarat. This usage is not restricted. “If ministers of the state government can impact the electorate through official websites, can the central ministers not do the same?,” the party said.
It charged the EC of having double standards, one for the BJP-ruled Gujarat and another for the Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh. “We are constrained to observe that in various matters, the commission is perceived as having a double standard. Such a perception denoting a biased attitude may not augur well with the highest standards of objectivity and impartiality which the commission should be perceived to have in the public eye for ensuring free and fair elections,” the BJP said.
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