Former Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has criticised political parties for targeting the Election Commission of India (ECI), saying that demanding the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation through public rallies was unfair and detrimental to democratic institutions.
Naidu’s remarks came amid a proposed protest by the CJP at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Saturday against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The demonstration was intended to raise allegations of voter deletions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged “vote theft”.
Naidu said the Election Commission was a statutory body and that allegations against it should be raised through appropriate procedures rather than public campaigns to discredit its leadership.
“The way some people are trying to malign the Election Commission is not good and is not in the interest of the country or democracy,” he said, adding that there were established procedures for addressing concerns involving election commissioners.
Expressing confidence in the poll body’s functioning, Naidu said India’s electoral system was widely recognised for managing elections on a massive scale. He maintained that genuine concerns about the electoral process could be discussed, but alleged that some political parties criticised the Commission depending on whether they won or lost elections.
“If they win an election, the Election Commission is good. If they lose an election, EVMs are bad, defective and pro-government. This sort of allegations are not fair,” he said.
Referring to the recent Bihar elections, Naidu claimed that no voter had complained about deletion of their name from the electoral rolls. He said political parties and their workers had a responsibility to verify voter lists, identify discrepancies and seek corrections, including the addition of eligible voters whose names were missing.
Drawing on his long experience in public life, which he said began when he was 16, the former Vice President reiterated that electoral institutions should not be singled out for criticism without proper consideration of the facts.
Naidu also referred to the Election Commission’s position that decisions were taken collectively, arguing that targeting an individual commissioner was inappropriate when the institution functioned through collective decision-making.
While affirming citizens’ right to protest, he stressed that demonstrations should remain peaceful and should not involve violence or damage to public property. He also said governments had a responsibility to facilitate peaceful protests.
“In a country like India, we must uphold democratic institutions. We must uphold the Constitution, and we must criticise in a fair manner,” Naidu said.
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