‘ECI rot began before Gyanesh Kumar’: Prashant Kishor targets poll body chief, cites Ashok Lavasa case | India News
NEW DELHI: Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor on Friday said the “rot” in the Election Commission of India (ECI) began well before Gyanesh Kumar became Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). His remarks came amid a massive row following a media report alleging differences between Kumar and the two Election Commissioners over several decisions, including the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.Also Read | ‘You will be handed a few wins’ – Amid SIR row, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke asks opposition parties to stop contesting in ‘rigged’ polls“The rot did not begin with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. One of his predecessors, after retirement, became chairman of a bank despite having no expertise in the banking sector. Clearly, it is a case of quid pro quo,” Kishor told PTI.He was referring to Ashok Lavasa, who resigned from the poll panel in 2020 to join the Asian Development Bank (ADB).Also Read | The Backstory: When EC disagreements went public, from Seshan to LavasaCiting his experience as an election strategist, Kishor further claimed that he was the “first person” to flag the Election Commission’s alleged “partiality” towards the ruling BJP.“I had said so way back in 2021 after the West Bengal assembly polls. I had clearly stated that the BJP could win 77 seats because of the EC’s benediction. Had the polls been free and fair, their tally would not have exceeded 50. The EC, by its partiality, has been ensuring that those in a close fight with the BJP ended up tasting defeat and those tipped for a massive victory won only by a modest margin,” he said.
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Kishor had worked with the Trinamool Congress during the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections and played a key role in the party securing a third consecutive term.He also cited his experience in the recent bypoll to Bihar’s Bankipur Assembly seat, which he won in his electoral debut.“I would have won by at least 50,000 votes, but for the EC turning a blind eye to the blatant misuse of the administrative machinery and the BJP’s spending of hundreds of crores during the campaign,” Kishor alleged. He wrested the seat from the BJP, which had held it for 30 years. The seat had fallen vacant after BJP national president Nitin Nabin’s resignation as MLA following his election as a Rajya Sabha MP.The JSP founder also claimed that the “conduct of elections is compromised on all counts”, including campaign funding, the use of the bureaucracy and alleged tampering with electoral rolls.
