Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said there was no reason for leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to accept the Election Commission's invitation to discuss the issues regarding polling that he has been raising.
The commission had written to Rahul on June 12 inviting him to meet at a mutually convenient date to discuss the issues he has been raising. The invite was sent after his article alleging voter fraud appeared in multiple newspapers across the country on June 7. The Congress is the only national party whose leadership has not met the poll panel this year.
Kharge pointed out that written complaints have been submitted by the party at the central and state levels but to no avail. Alleging that the Election Commission had become a puppet of the government, Kharge said in response to a question on whether the poll agency invite would be accepted: "We have repeatedly raised certain issues to rectify the system, not to go there and argue. We have pointed out shortcomings as a result of which the will of the people was not correctly reflected."
He said the Congress had met the poll panel at the central level and in the states on different issues in the past. "Did they do anything? So many people have complained. Have you rectified the system? You (EC) do only what Modi tells you to do."