New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) India on Friday rejected US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal’s comments on electoral process in the country, terming them as “unwarranted, uninformed” and tantamount to interfering in the electoral practices of a fellow democracy.
“We find the remarks of the Congresswoman unwarranted and uninformed and tantamount to interfering in the electoral practices of a fellow democracy. This is an approach that undermines democracy itself,” said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal while responding to a question during a bi-weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Friday.
Jaiswal’s response came after Jayapal expressed concerns over certain reports about names of people being removed from India’s electoral rolls.
“I am deeply concerned about the actions of the Indian government to purge 130 million people from the voting rolls,” the Democrat from Washington state wrote on X.
On Thursday, Washington time, India’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, also sharply rejected Indian-American Congresswoman Jayapal’s charge that New Delhi was purging voters.
He called her remarks “unacceptable interference in India’s internal affairs”.
“The remarks by Rep. Jayapal on India’s electoral and political processes are unacceptable interference in India’s internal affairs,” Kwatra wrote on X.
“India is a vibrant democracy, with robust, independent constitutional institutions and a longstanding record of free and fair elections. Always open to constructive conversation with the Congresswoman to dispel her misconceptions,” he said.
Born in Chennai, Jayapal is a former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She has clashed with New Delhi before as well. In 2019, she moved a House resolution urging India to lift communication curbs in Kashmir.
The Election Commission of India has been carrying out a nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in phases. The Commission has said lists of absent, shifted, dead and duplicate voters were displayed publicly and shared with political parties, and that anyone whose name was deleted can apply for enrolment at any time.
–IANS
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