Election Commission is biased, says KTR

He said the ECI had turned a blind eye to inflammatory statements made by Modi and Shah, despite receiving around 20,000 complaints from citizens.

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Thursday came down heavily on the Election Commission of India (ECI), stating that it was functioning under the influence of the BJP and failing to address complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union Home Minister Amit Shah for their divisive remarks.

He also questioned the ECI’s inaction on complaints against Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy in Telangana for his abusive remarks and also for stifling the voices of Opposition leaders by filing false cases against them. Speaking at a media conference here at Telangana Bhavan, Rama Rao minced no words in categorically terming the ECI’s action as “biased and selective”.

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He said the ECI had turned a blind eye to inflammatory statements made by Modi and Shah, despite receiving around 20,000 complaints from citizens.

“I have no hesitation to state that the Election Commission is acting like a shadow agency of the BJP. They are so scared to initiate action against Prime Minister Modi that they choose to issue notices to BJP national president JP Nadda for the inflammatory speech by Modi,” he pointed out.

Condemning Amit Shah using pictures of Lord Ram during his election campaigns, he highlighted instances of BJP’s social media posts spreading venom against Muslims and expressed concern over the ECI’s failure to act against hate speech and religious polarisation.

“The ECI fails to act on complaints against Modi and Shah who are indulging in communal hate speeches. But it is ready to impose a 48-hour ban on BRS president and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for using some strong words while venting out his anger over the State government’s failure to address the grievances of farmers and weavers at a press conference in Sircilla,” he said.

Criticising the ECI’s response, or lack of it, to complaints against Revanth Reddy, he said there was bias in the handling of election code violations. Despite the BRS filing 27 complaints including eight against Revanth Reddy alone, he said the ECI did not initiate action except for censuring Minister Konda Surekha.

He questioned whether the abusive and derogatory remarks of Revanth Reddy sounded like gospels and hymns for the Election Commission.

“Both the BJP and the Congress appear to be hand-in-glove over the ban imposed on the BRS president’s election campaign. They are fearing a defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, considering the public response to the BRS president’s bus tour and subsequent survey reports indicating around 8 to 12 MP seats for the BRS,” he added.

The BRS working president said the ECI was mocking the Constitution by favouring certain parties and individuals and urged the Commission to prove him wrong by initiating action against Modi and to give an explanation for its actions so far.