Tripura Minister Sudhanshu Das has criticized the Congress party and other opposition groups for demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The minister called the demand illogical and baseless while speaking to reporters in Agartala on Wednesday. He also questioned the electoral performance of the Congress party in the state.
Das accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of attempting to undermine the country democratic institutions and urged people not to pay excessive attention to his statements. He stated that India is known globally as the mother of democracy and that the actions of opposition leaders are bringing disrepute to the system. The minister claimed that Rahul Gandhi is working to weaken the democratic framework out of frustration over repeated poll losses.
The Tripura minister questioned why Congress contested only a fraction of seats in past local elections in the state. He referred to Panchayat elections held two years ago where Congress contested only 731 out of around 6,500 seats. Das also pointed out that in the Village Committee elections in the TTAADC area held on September 27, Congress contested fewer than 400 of the total 4,597 seats. He stated that parties naturally lose when they are unable to field candidates.
Das questioned the seat sharing arrangements of Congress with other opposition parties in different states including West Bengal, Kerala, and Uttar Pradesh. He also cited comments made by CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury regarding the inability of Congress to appoint counting agents during a recent election in Dharmanagar. The opposition has demanded action against the Chief Election Commissioner over alleged irregularities in the electoral roll revision process, while the Election Commission has rejected all allegations of wrongdoing.
