A day after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed that outgoing Home Minister Amit Shah had called up 150 District Magistrates (DMs) across the country after polling was completed for the Lok Sabha polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday asked the Rajya Sabha MP to share the details of the officials.
In a letter to Ramesh, the poll body has sought “factual information” and details from the Congress leader for his public statement through a post on his social media handle about the calls.
In its letter, the poll body clarified that during the period of enforcement of MCC, all officers are under deemed deputation of the Commission and report directly to the Commission for any directions.
“However, no DM has reported any such undue influence as alleged by you,” they said.
The poll body also said that the process of counting of votes is a sacred duty cast upon every RO and such public statements by a senior, responsible and experienced leader tend to put an element of doubt and thus, deserves to be addressed in larger public interest.
The outgoing Home Minister has been calling up DMs/Collectors. So far he has spoken to 150 of them. This is blatant and brazen intimidation, showing how desperate the BJP is. Let it be very clear: the will of the people shall prevail, and on June 4th, Mr. Modi, Mr. Shah, and the…— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 1, 2024
“Although, no DM has reported any undue influence, the EC had sought details and information from Jairam Ramesh of 150 DMs to whom Amit Shah has influenced, as alleged by Ramesh and which he believes to be true, and had thus made these allegations,” the poll body said.
The EC has sought his response by 7 pm on Sunday for further necessary action.
In a post on Social media platform X on Saturday, Ramesh said: “The outgoing Home Minister has been calling up DMs/Collectors. So far, he has spoken to 150 of them. This is blatant and brazen intimidation, showing how desperate the BJP is. Let it be very clear: the will of the people shall prevail, and on June 4th, Mr. Modi, Mr. Shah, and the BJP will exit, and the INDIA Janbandhan will be victorious. Officers should not get under any pressure and must uphold the Constitution. They are under watch.”
The seventh phase of polling concluded on Saturday with voting completed on 57 seats. The counting of votes for Lok Sabha will be done on Tuesday, June 4.
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