PMO has prepared a whole file on the corruption of Delhi’s Election Commissioner; threatening him of ED, CBI investigations to help BJP: Durgesh Pathak
State Election Commissioner himself said that there’s no relation between the unification and election postponement yet buckled under Centre’s pressure: Durgesh Pathak
Delhi Election Commissioner pressurised with the threat of jail and investigation: Durgesh Pathak
BJP puts corrupt officers on important posts, leverages their scams to extract political favours: Durgesh Pathak
Unification of MCDs possible even after electing all councillors; they just need to sit in one house after the merger: Atishi
Beginning of the end of our democracy if the EC buckles under pressure and defers elections: Atishi
Questions being raised on EC’s capability of holding free and fair elections: Atishi
The whole country is watching what State Election Commissioner SK Srivastava is doing; if he falls into the traps of the PMO or fearlessly administers MCD elections: Atishi
NEW DELHI:
In an all time low in Indian history, the BJP has threatened Delhi’s State Election Commissioner to defer MCD elections fearing it’s terrible defeat. AAP Seniors Leaders, MCD in-charge Shri Durgesh Pathak and MLA Ms Atishi today exposed how the PMO has prepared a whole file on the corruption of Delhi’s Election Commissioner and are threatening him of ED, CBI investigations to help BJP. Shri Pathak stated — State Election Commissioner himself said that there’s no relation between the unification and election postponement yet buckled under Centre’s pressure. Delhi Election Commissioner pressurised with the threat of jail and investigation. BJP puts corrupt officers on important posts, leverages their scams to extract political favours. At the same time, Ms Atishi said that — The unification of MCDs is possible even after electing all councillors. They just need to sit in one house after the merger. Beginning of the end of our democracy if the EC buckles under pressure and defers elections. Questions are being raised on EC’s capability of holding free and fair elections. The whole country is watching what State Election Commissioner SK Srivastava is doing; if he falls into the traps of the PMO or fearlessly administers MCD elections.
AAP MCD in-charge Shri Durgesh Pathak said, “MCD elections were about to be held until now. On March 9, the election commission called a press conference to announce the same but somehow deferred it under pressure from the Centre. There was information about Model Code of Conduct and Election Dates being announced then. But Election Commissioner Srivastava Ji came to the presser and said something unexpected. He talks of the Centre’s letter about merging the three MCDs. He himself said that there wasn’t much relevance to deferring the elections in context of the merger yet went ahead to announce the same. He also said that the elections should be held before 19-20 May but the news reports say that the EC would not conduct elections under pressure from the Centre. It looks like BJP is running away from the elections after realising that the people have lost their trust in them. Our internal surveys show AAP to be winning 250 seats in the polls. BJP would be absolutely destroyed if these elections take place.”
He added, “The BJP put pressure on the Delhi Election Commissioner. Highly placed sources have told us that the PMO has prepared a file on the corruption of Delhi EC Shri Shrivastava. He was pulled up for that, threatened and blackmailed saying he’ll be put in jail if he doesn’t act like the BJP says. He buckled under pressure and deferred the election. This is a tested method practiced by the PMO. They make a list of corrupt officers, prepare files on them, post them in positions of repute and then threaten them to extract favours from them. They threaten them of ED, CBI and Income Tax investigations. The PMO has a fixed style of working now. It is out in the open. Today it is the Delhi Election Commissioner, tomorrow it will be someone else.”
He continued, “we take pride in our democracy being the largest in the world. We take pride in being a free country. Countless sacrifices have been made to get India independence. If this is how corrupt officers are put at work, it will be the greatest disrespect to those who sacrificed their life for this country. There will be no relevance to our democracy left if they continue taking unconstitutional steps like this. People will draw equations between PM Modi and Aurangzeb. This must be stopped at all costs.”
MLA Ms Atishi said, “We all are proud that India is a democracy. It is a democracy, where the people rule. It is a democracy, where whether one is rich or poor, whether of any religion or any caste, they get a chance to vote once in 5 years. They can bring in the government of whichever party or leader they want. Since India became independent, there have been many ups and downs. The history of our country was written in bold letters, but except for the Emergency period, India’s democracy has never been questioned till date. Irrespective of the government, irrespective of their political standing, elections have been held. Because there is an organisation named the Election Commission in India. ECI has been above all kinds of politics. Ever since India became independent, it has never happened that elections are not held in a country as large and diverse as India. In the last 75 years, India’s democracy showed its mettle to the whole world and proved elections can be held here every 5 years. There has never been any question on the ability of the Election Commission to conduct free and fair elections till date. People like TN Seshan have been the Chief Election Commissioners in this country. Such people have taken the Election Commission to such a height that no one can ever question the Election Commission of India in this entire country, all over the world. No one can question India’s democracy.”
She added, “But what is happening in Delhi today. How before the announcement of Delhi’s municipal elections, the State Election Commissioner of Delhi is threatened and intimidated. How he is being forced to postpone the election. For the first time in the history of this country, questions are being raised on the Election Commission’s sanctity. State Election Commissioner SK Srivastava himself said that there is nothing to do with unification and deferring elections. Before all the three MCDs were split, elections were held for a unified MCD too. The councillors earlier used to sit in one house. But when the new law was passed, creating three separate houses, elections were not held again for three separate houses. The councillors just got divided by simple logic. Even today if there are separate elections in all the three MCDs and the central government thinks that they want to unify everyone can sit in one house. So naturally this is not a reason to agree with. The reason is that the BJP knows that it is going to lose the election. That’s why our democracy is being blown away into a laughing stock today. I want to tell Delhi’s State Election Commissioner SK Srivastava that today not only the whole of Delhi but the whole country is watching him. Today the integrity of the Election Commission is being questioned. Today such a time has come in the history of the country where people are thinking that this Election Commission will come under pressure from the Central Government, Bharatiya Janata Party and PMO. Today the whole country is watching what is happening. If State Commissioner S.K. Srivastava postpones this MCD election today under the pressure of PMO, then Srivastava ji’s name will be written in black letters in our history. The MCD election is being postponed is just the beginning. What if the BJP is losing an election tomorrow, and what if the election of a state is postponed to avoid that. What if they defer Lok Sabha Elections saying they want to merge two states?”
She concluded, “I want to tell Srivastava ji that the fate of our country will be decided by your decision today. If you postpone the elections today under the pressure of the PMO, under the pressure of the central government, under the pressure of their threats, then you are not only postponing the MCD elections, you are the beginning of the end of the democracy of this country. I appeal to Srivastava Ji that the whole country is watching whether you will come under the pressure of PMO or will you carry forward the history of democracy of India and the glorious history of Election Commission of India and leaving all the threats, all the pressure behind, you will let the people of Delhi elect who they want to vote for in the MCD elections.”