Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday hit out at the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the “tone and tenor” of its recent letter to his party while also urging the poll body to act against “communal and incendiary rhetoric” allegedly used by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during poll campaigns.
Jairam Ramesh Urges ECI To Take Action Against Odisha Governor
In an interview with PTI, Jairam Ramesh also urged the ECI to take action against Odisha governor Raghubar Das for campaigning in Jamshedpur.
His remarks came days after the Congress slammed the poll body after it rejected the party’s allegations over irregularities in the Haryana assembly polls.
In its letter to the ECI signed by nine senior leaders, including Jairam Ramesh, the Congress had said, “We have carefully studied your response to our complaints. Not surprisingly, the ECI has given a clean chit to itself. We would normally have let it be at that. However, the tone and tenor of the ECI’s response, the language used, and the allegations made against the INC compel us to submit the counter-response.”
In the Congress’ letter to the ECI, Jairam Ramesh said, “I don’t want to say anything more than what we have already said. In fact, we met the ECI in Haryana in 20 assembly constituencies on which we had specific complaints. We met the ECI on October 9 and they gave a response on October 29 and we would have (left the matter at that).”
“We have exercised our democratic right, the ECI heard us, they heard us patiently and they have responded but it is the manner in which they responded, the language that they used, the charges that they have hurled at us, giving a sense that they did us a favour by meeting a Congress delegation,” he told PTI.