CEC terms criticism by parties irresponsible
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S Y Quraishi has termed the critical remarks made by political parties about the orders of the poll panel as “irresponsible”.
Asserting that the poll body had taken right decisions to hold fair and free elections in five states, Quraishi said political parties are making such statements because they are feeling the heat of its directives.
Responding to the questions asked about criticism from UP Chief Minister Mayawati for Commission’s decision to cover her statues and that of the BSP poll symbol ‘elephant’, Quraishi said: “Anybody making such a statement is making an irresponsible statement.” Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that they should ‘act with constitutional restraint’.
“We are very fair and even handed. If somebody feels the heat it is their problem. We are very fair and there is no doubt about that,” Quraishi said on the sidelines of the National Voters’ Day (NVD) function.
Interestingly, political leaders were absent at the NVD programme organized by poll panel to urge voters to participate in elections in large numbers to elect “solid, sincere and hard working” candidates.
The conspicuous absence of political leaders was pointed out by former President A P J Abdul Kalam, who was the chief guest at the function.
However, CEC said the absence of political parties does not reflect indifference on their part as it would have been difficult for them to leave the poll campaign as elections were a few days away.
