A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, a delegation of leaders of the INDIA bloc parties approached the Election Commission of India alleging “unrelenting, blatant and illegal deployment of Central Agencies” by the ruling BJP to stifle the opposition parties. In a memorandum sub mitted to the EC, the INDIA party leaders submitted a list of recent instances of central agencies targeting opposition parties and alleged an absence of a level playing field for the opposition.
\The leaders also suggested that the poll panel should change the heads of the probe agencies during the election to ensure a fair play Speaking to the media after the meeting, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “We pointed out this is not a normal complaint, it is a larger issue of effecting, impairing, undermining, and sabotaging the basic structure of the Indian con situation “We pointed out that the level playing field is the heart and soul of free and fair elections. And free and fair elections are the heart and soul of democracy itself. Democracy has been held repeatedly by the Supreme Court to be part of basic structure.” He added, “The moment you skew, render the level playing field in a non level playing field, what do you do? You are actually affecting democracy and therefore the basic structure. How do you do it, you use and misuse agencies blatantly.”
Singhvi said cases which are 20 years old have been resurrected to target the op position. “…if you had to take action, I am assuming for a minute action is justified… why can’t the action be deferred to June-July, what is the need to arrest him today? What is the need to raid him tomorrow? Right in the middle of the election. It is because you want to win by unfair means before the first vote is cast,” he alleged, referring to the arrest of Kejriwal. He said in 75 years of India history, no party of whatever colour, including BJP, ever thought of arresting a sitting chief minister. “Every party of this political structure standing here has been harassed, raided and arrested, why? All virtues are in this pocket, all the vices on this side? Or are you blind?” he said. “Not a single person of the ruling party is affected, how is this level playing field? We asked this question to the mega custodian of our democracy, the Election Commission.
We told them that you have constitutional power, if you can appoint heads of police, change home secretaries, why can’t you control appointments to ED, CBI, and the IT during at least the period of the MCC,” Singhvi added. Besides Singhvi, Congress leaders KC Venugopal, TMC’s Derek O’brien and Nadimul Haque, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, AAP leaders Sandeep Pathak and Pankaj Gup ta, NCP-SCP leader Jitendra Awhad, DMK’s P Wilson and Javed Ali of the SP were part of the delegation.
