Home India Politics Congress attacks Badal over poll panel row

Congress attacks Badal over poll panel row

By IANS,

New Delhi : The Congress Tuesday attacked Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for criticising the Election Commission.

Irked over Badal’s letter to Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi asking election officials in the state “not to overstep their constitutional mandate”, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said “it was the case of the pot calling the kettle black”.

Maintaining that he had high regards for the Punjab chief minister, Tewari, however, accused the Punjab government of “transgressing every constitutional norm in the past five years”.

“They can’t lecture the EC as they (the Badals) converted the political system into their family affair.”

Meanwhile, responding to the controversy, Law Minister Salman Khurshid said: “The EC is equipped to deal with any complaints made during elections.”

Badal had, in a communication last week, appealed to the poll panel to ask its officials in the state “to act within the parameters of their constitutional brief”.

Reacting to this, Quraishi said he would write back to the chief minister giving his views on the issue.