Opposition parties on Thursday targeted the Election Commission and the government over the alleged lack of transparency in the electoral process and demanded changes in the law to make the poll panel accountable to Parliament.

During a discussion on electoral reforms, they also alleged that the poll body was usurping the powers of Parliament to make laws and rules on elections. Congress MP Ajay Maken said the main Opposition party was being denied a level playing field in the elections, raising questions about the credibility of polls.

Maken said the Election Commission had declared 61 per cent polling in Haryana on the day of the Assembly elections in 2024. However, on the counting day, it emerged that 68 per cent had cast their votes. He said Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the poll panel on December 10, 2024, to share CCTV footage of the polling centres but the commission tweaked election rules to deny footage. Earlier, footage was archived for a year but now it has been reduced to 45 days.

The Congress leader alleged that a racket operated in Karnataka to file false applications to remove genuine voters from the electoral rolls. However, the poll panel did not cooperate with the investigations conducted by an SIT set up by the Karnataka government, he said. Maken said that the law had been amended to give total immunity to members of the poll panel. “If no wrong has been committed by them, what is the need for immunity?” he asked.

Maken alleged that the poll body’s conduct was biased as it prevented the Opposition governments in Telangana and Himachal Pradesh from giving financial assistance to farmers and women, respectively, but allowed the Bihar government to transfer ₹10,000 to women right before the Assembly elections.