New Town, Sep 24 (IANS) West Bengal Minister Dilip Ghosh on Thursday questioned the evidence behind reports that two Election Commissioners had raised objections on record to decisions taken by the Election Commission over a period of 10 months.
The remarks came after a leading daily reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on at least 14 occasions concerning various decisions and processes of the poll panel. The reported objections included matters related to the addition and deletion of names from electoral rolls and concerns over whether the two Commissioners were kept informed about certain decisions.
The Election Commission, however, has maintained that all decisions, including those related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, were taken unanimously with the approval of all three Commissioners.
Speaking to reporters, Ghosh said, “The issue of SIR was also discussed in court, and people even approached the courts. But nothing came of it, did it? They have no evidence of what went wrong.”
He added that if a person’s name had been illegally removed from the electoral roll, the individual could submit the necessary documents and seek restoration of the name.
“So, today, the opposition has nothing to do. Those who cannot even field candidates in by-elections, who is going to listen to them?” Ghosh said.
Ghosh hit out at the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders for demanding the arrest of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
“Has Rahul Gandhi become the courts and the judiciary, or has he become the Constitution itself, that he gets to decide who should be arrested?” he said.
“If you cannot win an election because the public does not vote for you after someone conducted a free and fair election where they lost, who is responsible for that?” he added.
Meanwhile, Ghosh spoke about the proposed 2,000-bed hospital being established by the Adani Group in New Town. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project is scheduled for Thursday.
Ghosh said 1,000 beds at the hospital would be provided free of cost to poor people and said the state government was ready to extend support for the project.
He further said industrialists and business groups were coming to the state and that land would be allotted to them gradually. He added that land acquired earlier by companies that failed to commence work would also be taken back, as per the government’s policy.
–IANS
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