Election Commission acting as BJP’s adjunct, alleges CPI M General Secretary M A Baby

Thiruvananthapuram: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is functioning like an adjunct of the BJP- led Central government instead of upholding its constitutional responsibilities, alleged CPI M general secretary M A Baby on Sunday. Speaking to reporters, Baby said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had recently made “explosive revelations” regarding alleged malpractices in the voters’ list published for the last general elections. He accused the BJP government of appointing loyalists to the Election Commission, ignoring the Supreme Court’s suggestions, and claimed these officials were “engaged in mischief.” “On one side, they are deleting names of genuine voters under the guise of Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and on the other, they are adding voters who are not even present at a place for more than two days,” Baby alleged. He said the legal requirement that a person must reside in a constituency for at least six months to be eligible to vote was being disregarded. According to Baby, around 30,000 “fake votes” were added to the voters’ list in Thrissur before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, allegedly by the BJP. He claimed that individuals from nearby areas were deliberately included in Thrissur’s voters’ list, calling for a serious probe into the matter. Union Minister Suresh Gopi had won the Thrissur seat in 2024, marking the BJP’s first Lok Sabha victory from Kerala.