Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora after he takes charge in New Delhi on December 2, 2018. (PTI Photo by Atul Yadav)
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Stakeholders have the right to criticise but the Election Commission (EC) cannot be made part of political brinkmanship, Sunil Arora, the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), told The Indian Express in an interview Thursday. Underlining the credibility of the electoral process, Arora said that EVMs, over decades, have enabled the election of different political parties to power and the machine cannot be “vilified in case of Result X and deemed okay in case of Result Y.”
Apart from Parliament elections, Arora, as CEC, will also oversee the conduct of assembly elections in Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Delhi, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir. He will retire in April 2021.
Responding to criticism over the delay in announcing the Madhya Pradesh poll winner, he said that the Commission is not in the race of calling elections first but its priority is to get the results correct. “When candidates and their agents ask questions and insist on settling their doubts, then delays are natural,” he added.
Asked about recent allegations of partisanship made by political parties against the EC, Arora said, “My colleagues and I would carry out our duties in conformity with the letter and spirit of the Constitution. The interactions with political parties that I have attended in the Commission headquarters and on our visit to the states have been very pleasant. I cannot account for what one says to the media after stepping out. You should ask them.”
Ritika Chopra, an award-winning journalist with over 17 years of experience, serves as the Chief of the National Bureau (Govt) and National Education Editor at The Indian Express in New Delhi. In her current role, she oversees the newspaper's coverage of government policies and education. Ritika closely tracks the Union Government, focusing on the politically sensitive Election Commission of India and the Education Ministry, and has authored investigative stories that have prompted government responses.
Ritika joined The Indian Express in 2015. Previously, she was part of the political bureau at The Economic Times, India’s largest financial daily. Her journalism career began in Kolkata, her birthplace, with the Hindustan Times in 2006 as an intern, before moving to Delhi in 2007. Since then, she has been reporting from the capital on politics, education, social sectors, and the Election Commission of India. ... Read More
