"No DM Reported Undue Influence": Poll Body's Big Question To Jairam Ramesh

A day after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that Home Minister Amit Shah called and intimidated district officers ahead of the counting of votes Tuesday, the Election Commission said no officer has reported any "undue influence" and asked the Opposition leader for details backing his allegation by 7 pm today so that action can be taken.

"The outgoing Home Minister has been calling up DMs/Collectors. So far, he has spoken to 150 of them. This is blatant and brazen intimidation, showing how desperate the BJP is. Let it be very clear: the will of the people shall prevail, and on June 4th, Mr. Modi, Mr. Shah, and the BJP will exit, and the INDIA Janbandhan will be victorious. Officers should not get under any pressure and must uphold the Constitution. They are under watch," Mr Ramesh said in the post on X.

The poll body said that being a senior leader, Mr Ramesh must have made the public statement based on facts he believes to be true.

"In this regard, it may be noted that during the period of enforcement of MCC, all officers are under deemed deputation of the Commission and report directly to the Commission for any directions. However, no DM has reported any such undue influence as alleged by you. As you are aware, the process of counting of votes is a sacred duty cast upon every RO and such public statements by you tend to put an element of doubt and thus, deserves to be addressed in larger public interest," the Election Commission said in its letter to Mr Ramesh.

"Therefore, you being a responsible, experienced and very senior leader of a National Party must have made such public statement, just before the day of counting, based on facts/ information you believe to be true. It is requested that details of 150 DMs to whom such calls have been allegedly made by the Home Minister along with the factual matrix/ basis of your information are shared by 19.00 hours today i.e. June 2, 2024, so that appropriate action can be taken," the poll body alleged.

Speaking to NDTV after exit polls predicted another BJP victory, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri trashed such charges. "The Home Minister of India doesn't call a district officer or a subdivisional officer. The Home Minister deals with the Chief Minister of a state."