Patna: CM Samrat Choudhary on Sunday criticised the Congress, asserting the opposition has “no right” to question the impartiality of the Election Commission (EC).Speaking at a news conference at the chief minister’s secretariat in Patna, Samrat cited historical precedents to question Congress’s claims about institutional independence.“It was during the Congress rule that former chief election commissioner (CEC) MS Gill became a Union minister,” Samrat said. He also pointed out that former CEC T N Seshan contested an election on a Congress ticket against former BJP president Lal Krishna Advani, while R K Trivedi, who served as CEC from 1982 to 1985, was made governor of Gujarat. Samrat said these instances showed Congress’s history of offering post-retirement benefits and questioned its right to cast aspersions on the current poll body.Samrat’s remarks came amid renewed attacks by the opposition on CEC Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of bias towards the BJP at the Centre.Dismissing allegations over the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as a “false alarm”, Samrat accused opposition leaders of spreading confusion without verified facts. He said the EC had made the 2003 voter list available online, allowing eligible voters to verify their legacy details during the current SIR process.Samrat also targeted leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and LOP in Bihar assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, calling them the “yuvraj” (prince) of their respective parties. He said both had raised similar allegations of illegal mass voter deletions ahead of last year’s assembly polls in Bihar, but none could be proven.Samrat also questioned Rahul’s remarks on democracy, saying Congress had remained a single-family party. He said Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi served as prime ministers, Sonia Gandhi served as ‘superpower prime minister’ for 10 years, and Rahul now holds the position of LOP. “They have no right to talk about democracy,” he said.On the recent electoral roll revision in Bihar, Samrat said 22.34 lakh voters were found deceased, 36.28 lakh had relocated and seven lakh were registered at dual locations. “These names were deleted strictly under prescribed rules, and no counter-claims or applications were received by the EC,” the CM said.Samrat said opposition parties had every right to present their views in a democracy but should do so with facts and evidence. He said the EC and judicial system were available for election-related complaints and the SIR process had been completed across Bihar under prescribed rules.He said electoral rolls were continuously revised, with eligible voters added and changes made following deaths, transfers and other reasons. He urged opposition parties to stop undermining democratic institutions with baseless allegations.
