After falling behind the Congress party in the recent panchayat elections in Uttarakhand, now the Election Commission has suffered a shock. Yes, the Election Commission on Saturday denied the allegations made by the Congress party regarding the alleged irregularities in the Uttarakhand Panchayat elections and termed the claims as wrong and misleading.

The Congress had posted a video related to a complaint related to nomination papers in the panchayat elections. In which the Commission was accused of ignoring. On which the Commission rejected the allegations of the Congress.

What was the whole matter?

In fact, the dispute started when a video was shared on the official handle X of the Congress, alleging that the Election Commission of India had failed to take action against the nominations, whose names were in more than one voter list. The post further claimed that despite the directions of the Uttarakhand High Court, the Election Commission refused to remove such duplicate entries, due to which the Supreme Court imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on the Election Commission.

The Congress called it a “vote theft” and accused the BJP and the Election Commission of conniving to crush democracy.

Election Commission’s sharp response

The Election Commission reacted sharply to this and checked a fact through its official X handle and clarified that the post of Congress was factually wrong. The Election Commission said that this post is wrong and misleading. The Election Commission emphasized that the panchayat and municipal elections are not conducted by the Election Commission of India, but by the State Election Commissions.

Citing Article 324 of the Constitution, the ECI said that the Election Commission is limited to the election of Parliament, the legislature of every state, and the office of the President and the Vice President.

Not only this, the Election Commission clarified that all panchayats and municipal elections come under the jurisdiction of the State Election Commissions concerned. The Commission also shared an official link between the Election Commission of India and the State Election Commissions to explain the difference in roles and responsibilities.

Question on Commission before the upcoming elections

This explanation of the Election Commission has come at a time when political fierceness has intensified, in which the Congress is targeting the Election Commission in view of the upcoming state and local elections. While the opposition has expressed concern over the alleged voter list discrepancies, the Election Commission of India has been continuously saying that only state election bodies are responsible for the panchayat level elections.