Need a CEC like T N Seshan: Congress reiterates charges for vote-chori

Mumbai: Amid the humiliating defeat in Bihar, the Congress reiterated the charges for vote-chori and said that the country now needs a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) like T N Seshan.

“All credit for the outcome of Bihar Assembly elections goes to the ECI and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The ECI’s functioning is extremely dangerous for democracy. We need a CEC like T N Seshan,” said Maharashtra Congress President Harshavardhan Sapkal.

It may be recalled, bureaucrat Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan (May 15, 1933 – November 10, 2019) was the 10th CEC serving December 12, 1990 – December 11, 1996 and brought in wide-spread reforms in the electioneering process.

Hitting out at the NDA’s post-results narrative as ‘baseless’, Sapkal accused the NDA regime in Bihar of doling out Rs 10,000 to women ahead of the polls after ignoring the poor there for five years.

“Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi is fighting a battle to save the country, democracy and the state… 90 percent of the people in the country have the lowest level of participation in the government and only a handful of people hold the power. This picture has to change,” said Sapkal, giving the outcome a larger perspective.