Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre over the amendment made in the Conduct of Election Rules, saying this was a “systematic conspiracy” by the ruling dispensation to destroy the institutional integrity of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Reacting to the amendment made by the Centre in the Conduct of Election Rules on Friday, he said, “Modi government’s audacious amendment in the Conduct of Election Rules is another assault in its systematic conspiracy to destroy the institutional integrity of the ECI.Earlier, they had removed the Chief Justice of India from the Selection panel which appoints Election Commissioners, and now they have resorted to stonewall electoral information, even after a High Court order.”

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Referring to the representations submitted to the poll panel raising several issues in the last few months, the Congress chief wrote on X, “Everytime the Congress party wrote to the ECI, regarding specific poll irregularities such as voter deletions and lack of transparency in EVMs, the ECI has responded in a condescending tone and chosen not to even acknowledge certain serious complaints. This again proves that the ECI, even though is a quasi-judicial body is not behaving independently.”

Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, asserted that the Narendra Modi government’s calibrated erosion of ECI’s integrity is a frontal attack on the Constitution and Democracy, and their party will take every step to safeguard them.

Notably, the ECI on Saturday categorically said candidates already have access to all the documents and papers, and nothing has been amended in the rules in this regard.

An official of the poll panel said recently Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case – Mahmoud Pracha vs ECI had directed sharing of all documents related to Haryana Assembly elections, including treating CCTV footage also as permissible under Rule 93(2) of the Conduct of Election Rules.

Informing that the rule mentioned election papers, the official said, “The election papers and documents does not specifically refer to electronic records.”

“In order to remove this ambiguity and considering the serious issue of violation of secrecy of vote and potential misuse of CCTV footage of inside the polling station using artificial intelligence by a single person, the rule has been amended to safeguard misuse of CCTV footage of inside of the polling station,” the official said.