MyVoice: Views of our readers 22nd Apr 2025

Rahul’s unfair ‘biased’ utterances against EC

Congress leader and Lok Sabha leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who is on a US visit, has raised serious concerns over the integrity of India’s electoral process, alleging voter fraud and accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of having compromised. Addressing members of the Indian diaspora in Boston, he cited discrepancies in the voter turnout figures during the Maharashtra Assembly elections as a key example. Rahul Gandhi claimed that people who voted in the elections outnumbered the total registered voters. “The Election Commission gave us a figure at 5.30 pm and mentioned that between 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm, 65 lakh additional votes were cast.

That is physically impossible in a mere two hours,” he remarked. He went on to add that when sought the EC refused to provide video evidence, which indicated that the “Commission was compromised.” In last year’s elections in Maharashtra, Congress won just 16 seats with 12.42 per cent vote share. The party’s alliance partners also did equally badly. On the other hand, MahaYuti emerged victorious with all three partners BJP, NCP, and Shiv Sena getting 230 seats combined and forming the government with an absolute majority. This is what must have enraged Rahul Gandhi and hence his barbs against the poll panel.

Bhagwan Thadani, Mumbai

Ethical conduct and academic excellence must go hand in hand

Allegations of sexual harassment by a Japanese researcher at JNU has shocked everyone. The foreign student, after enduring months of harassment, returned to Japan and lodged a complaint. The administration promptly initiated an investigation, and upon finding the professor guilty, dismissed him. This step symbolises justice and strict action.

Educational institutions must be centres of knowledge, safety, respect, and ethics. Teachers must be role-models, or they have no place.

Prioritising ethical conduct as much as academic excellence is the need of the hour.

Prof. RK Jain “Arijeet”, Barwani (MP)

Outrageous and unacceptable utterances

BJP MP Nishikanth Dubey’s comments are outrageous, undemocratic and unacceptable. His comments that the Supreme Court is responsible for inciting religious wars in the country are hugely condemnable. By attacking the former CEC, S.Y. Quraishi, he shamelessly says that “he was not an election commissioner but a Muslim commissioner,” which is outrageous.

Meanwhile, BJP has distanced itself from party MP’s remarks but brings in Indira Gandhi’s remarks against the judiciary.

It clearly shows that whatever was said by the BJP leaders is the thinking of the party itself. A very dangerous trend is running in our country where the judiciary is not respected by the narrow-minded leaders.

Zeeshan, Kazipet.

Friction between SC and govt. is not good

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Dinesh Sharma denigrated the Supreme Court just because its orders on a few recent cases were not in favour of BJP and the Modi government. Their intemperate and irreverent language against the apex court is a clear illustration of the Sangh Parivar’s inclination to consider those who are not with them as being against them. The spate of attacks on the country’s top court are underpinned by the irreconcilability between what the Hindu Right represents and the basic tenets of the Constitution.

The friction between the Supreme Court and the Centre, rooted in the ruling party’s pursuit of its ideological goals, assumes the proportions of a confrontation and becomes that much harder to resolve.

It is an inherent strength of the Constitution that it easily lends itself to being used for actualising the goal of justice for all, deepening democracy and transforming the mass of Indian humanity. It is not amenable to being misused for legitimizing “elected autocracy” or the “tyranny of the majority” and tapping religious identity or dividing people on religious lines for political gains. It is for the Supreme Court, as the guardian of the Constitution, to decide the constitutionality or otherwise of the laws enacted by Parliament and ensure that no constitutional functionary acts unconstitutionally or refuses to act constitutionally, sometimes by taking remedial action invoking its power under Article 142 of the Constitution, irrespective of the ruling party’s and its supporters’ likes and dislikes.

G. David Milton, Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu