The voting for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections has come to an end as the seventh phase of the polling concluded on 19th May. The total voter turnout for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was the highest ever at 67.11 percent approximately with the total number of registered voters at 9 crores.
With the sole exception of West Bengal, the elections were once again peacefully conducted by the Election Commission of India throughout the nation. Even when attacked from all corners, the Election Commission tried their level best to maintain the apt decorum for conducting the polls.
In this regard, former President of India Pranab Mukherjee lauded the role of the Election Commission. While attending the launch of a book, he happened to interact with the media. Pranab Mukherjee said, “Right from the 1st Election Commissioner Sukumar Sen to the present election commissioners, this institution is working well. All the three commissioners are appointed by the executive. You cannot criticize them. It was a perfect conduct of elections.”
He further added, “If the democracy has succeeded, it is largely due to the perfect conduction of elections by the election commissioners starting from Sukumar Sen to the present election commissioners.”
This statement comes at a time when the Election Commission is receiving brickbats from the entire opposition, who’re aghast at the outcome of the recently conducted exit polls, which are giving BJP-led NDA a hands down victory. Led by Rahul Gandhi, who labeled Election Commission as ‘Modi’s Army’, which cannot be respected anymore, following are some of the gems spoken about the conduct of elections by major opposition leaders:-
From Electoral Bonds & EVMs to manipulating the election schedule, NaMo TV, “Modi’s Army” & now the drama in Kedarnath; the Election Commission’s capitulation before Mr Modi & his gang is obvious to all Indians.
The EC used to be feared & respected. Not anymore.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 19, 2019
I don’t trust Exit Poll gossip. The game plan is to manipulate or replace thousands of EVMs through this gossip. I appeal to all Opposition parties to be united, strong and bold. We will fight this battle together
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) May 19, 2019
I believe the exit polls are all wrong. In Australia last weekend, 56 different exit polls proved wrong. In India many people don’t tell pollsters the truth fearing they might be from the Government. Will wait till 23rd for the real results.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 19, 2019
As such, the current statement of Pranab Mukherjee has left the entire opposition red-faced. This is not the first time however, that the ex-President has shown the left liberals their place. Having created a furor in the political scenario by not only visiting RSS headquarters but also praising their ideals, Pranab Mukherjee has turned over a new leaf and currently seems to have his own sweet revenge on the Congress party for continuously sidelining him in national politics in order to favour the Nehru Gandhi dynasty.
The Election Commission had spared none in their duty to conduct polls without trouble. If they imposed sanctions on people like Mayawati and Azam Khan, they did the same for leaders like Yogi Adityanath and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur. Yet, the opposition is leaving no stone unturned in order to defame the Election Commission, just so that they could put PM Modi on the backfoot.
