Tributes pour in for T N Seshan

Politicians cutting across political lines and social media users from different walks of life mourned the death of former Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan hailing him as a leader, who gave a new dimension to the conduct of free and fair elections and gave an identity to the Election Commission.

As soon as news of death spread, Twitter was abuzz with messages.

Prime Minister expressed condolences, he said, "Shri TN Seshan was an outstanding civil servant. He served India with utmost diligence and integrity. His efforts towards electoral reforms have made our democracy stronger and more participative. Pained by his demise. Om Shanti."

Expressing his condolences, BJP general secretary P Murlidhar Rao said that Election Commission has become a household name due to Seshan’s commitment and hard work while former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called him a “trailblazer”.

Former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi and senior Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahai said that T N Seshan was a “true legend and a guiding force for all his successors”.

“After Seshan, people’s trust in free elections grew. In fact many in the country came to know of the power of the Constitutional body only after he became CEC,” said DMK’s Tiruchi Siva.

Other Twitteratis hailed the former CEC as the “man who gave the EC a spine” and the “man who strived to smash malpractices in elections”.

Others recalled how Seshan in many states particularly in Hindi belt state Bihar freed democracy “from the clutches of the goons”.

Another recalled Seshan as “the very first popular Election commissioner we knew in our school time” and as the “man who showed the nation, what an election commissioner can be if he wants to be.”

Others thanked him “for keeping the democracy alive for a generation.”