EC must reply to Rahul’s charges on deletion and not coerce him, says Speaker

The Election Commission, which has the responsibility to reply to the most serious charges levelled by the Opposition Leader in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on deleting the names of voters en masse and dubiously adding the several lakhs of voters to the electoral roll, is coercing him instead of raising genuine questions against it with proof, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu has said.

He told reporters that the EC had the responsibility of ensuring transparency in the electoral process right from preparation of voters’ list to conducting the election in a free and fair manner. However, refusing to share details of the huge number of voters deleted from the electoral roll and the addition of voters who were not physically available in the address mentioned would not be acceptable.

On the State Education Policy, it had been designed with the objective to uplift the poor and the middle classes. “It has been welcomed by the public as it is meant to uplift the common man’s children,” Mr. Appavu said.