Top News

Bureau Prayagraj- Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien held a press conference after the meeting with the Election Commission (EC). During this, he claimed that the Chief Election Commissioner behaved very disrespectfully with his delegation and asked them to leave within just 7 minutes of the meeting.

Derek O’Brien said that he had gone to the Election Commission with full preparation along with his party representatives. He told that 9 letters were sent to the Election Commission by his party chief Mamata Banerjee, but none of them was replied to nor any cognizance was taken. He said that this is a serious matter in itself, because a constitutional institution should not ignore such letters.

According to O’Brien, the meeting started at around 10:02 in the morning and ended within 7-8 minutes. During this, he raised some important issues to the election process. He alleged that some officials are involved in the election process who are to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He presented 6 such examples before the Election Commission and said that this raises questions on the fairness of the elections.

He also said that he expressed concern about the transfers and appointments of officers. He said that if such officers are given responsibility, then how will free and fair elections be possible. But as soon as he raised these issues, the Chief Election Commissioner interrupted him and allegedly told him to “get out of here”.

Derek O’Brien called this entire incident shameful. He said that in his 22 years of political career and 16 years of parliamentary experience, he had never seen such a situation with any constitutional institution. Giving an open challenge, he said that if the Election Commission has a video or audio record of the meeting, then it should be made public so that the truth can come out.

He also said that while his delegation was leaving, one of his colleagues congratulated the Chief Election Commissioner that he is the first Chief Election Commissioner in the history of India against whom removal notices have been served in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. O’Brien further said that all the opposition parties are uniting on this issue.

He said that when he reached the meeting, at the very beginning it was said that his delegation was not authorized, whereas he had gone with full authorization. After this, when he started putting forth his issues, he was not given a chance to speak. O’Brien said that in a democracy, the impartiality of institutions like the Election Commission is very important and if questions are raised on it, then it is a matter of concern for the entire system.