Mysuru: Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday defended chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, saying Election Commission (EC) was an independent constitutional body functioning effectively.Athawale accused opposition parties of making baseless allegations against the poll panel and ruled out Kumar’s resignation.Responding to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s charge that the Union govt was imposing an undeclared Emergency in Delhi, Athawale said Congress had imposed the Emergency in the country. He defended restrictions on protests at Jantar Mantar on law-and-order grounds.Dismissing allegations of electronic voting machine manipulation, Athawale asked whether Congress would have come to power in Karnataka if the machines were being misused. He advised opposition leader Rahul Gandhi to approach EC directly over concerns about discrepancies in electoral rolls.
