Right To Vote Is Fundamental Pillar Of Democracy, Not At Govt’s Mercy: KC Venugopal In LS

New Delhi: Congress General Secretary and MP K.C. Venugopal launched a blistering attack on the NDA government in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday while opposing the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, accusing the Centre of systematically destroying the independence of the ECI.

“The idea of an impartial electoral umpire has been openly crushed. The Election Commission has now collapsed under political pressure and has become partisan,” Venugopal said, while the Lok Sabha continued to debate on electoral reforms, adding that the right to vote is not a mercy granted by any government but a fundamental principle of democracy.

Quoting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Venugopal alleged that wherever elections were near, the BJP government started SIR (Special Intensive Revi