NEW Delhi, Sep 19 :
The Election Commission of India on Tuesday accused the Congress and its Madhya Pradesh chief Kamal Nath of trying to “forcibly instruct” it on how to conduct elections.
In a 100-page long reply in the Supreme Court, the Election Commission said it cannot function on the whims and fancies of Mr. Nath and the Congress.
The Commission accused Mr. Nath and the Congress of seeking to “derail the electoral process.”
‘Not tenable’
“It is neither tenable nor proper that the petitioner (and the political party/organisation to which he is affiliated) is trying to forcibly instruct the Election Commission of India as to how to conduct elections or is trying to impose his suggestions (or that of his political party/organisation),” the Election Commission submitted in its counter-affidavit.
The Commission was replying to complaints raised by Mr. Nath that there were over 60 lakh fake voters in the electoral rolls and an acute shortage in VVPAT machines in the run-up to the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.
Mr. Nath also complained that the draft electoral rolls had not been published in an “editable” format and were available only in PDF.
He wanted the Commission to publish draft electoral rolls in the text format.
