ECI discredited, its G2 puppeteers decisively defeated, says Congress

Welcoming the Supreme Court directive on the Bihar SIR issue, the Congress on Friday said democracy has survived a “brutal assault” from the Election Commission of India (ECI) and claimed that the poll body stands “totally exposed and discredited”.
The opposition party said the Supreme Court has laid down guardrails to make the revision more inclusive by including political parties in the process, and alleged that so far, the ECI’s approach has been “obstructionist and contrary to the interests of the voters”.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the party welcomes the Supreme Court directive on the Bihar SIR issue. “Democracy has survived a brutal assault from the Election Commission of India (ECI),” he claimed.
“Today, the Supreme Court has laid down guardrails to make the revision more inclusive by including political parties in the process. So far the ECI’s approach has been obstructionist and contrary to the interests of the voters. We welcome this judgment especially because it gives us an enforceable right which the ECI cannot ignore,” the Congress leaders said.
“Today, the ECI stands totally exposed and discredited. Its G2 puppeteers stand decisively defeated,” Ramesh said.
The bench said, “All the political parties shall file the status report by the next date of hearing on the claim form they had facilitated in filing by excluded voters.”
The bench directed the election officials to furnish an acknowledgement receipt to the booth level agents of the political parties, who submit the claim forms of excluded voters physically.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, urged the court to give the ECI a 15-day window to show there was no exclusion.