Miffed with his party’s defeat in the Palghar by-poll, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday castigated both the Election Commission and BJP for indulging in things that were ruining the democracy in the country.
Addressing a news conference shortly after the declaration of the Palghar lok Sabha by-poll, Thackeray went hammers and tongs at the EC which, he alleged, had become “corrupt”, and said it was time for all parties to move court against the poll body for introducing “corrupt electoral system” in the country.
Alluding to the manner in which the EC disenfranchised his late father and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray for six years in 1995 for his communal speech in a 1986 Assembly by-poll, Thackeray said, “Here is an Election Commission that imposes restrictions on political parties to hold intra-party elections which we obey.. On the hand, it has conducted itself in an unbecoming manner. .. My father was disenfranchised for a corrupt electoral practice and was debarred from contesting the elections. Any way he was not to contest any election.”
“On one hand, the election commission undertakes awareness drives to increase voting percentages. On the other, see what happened at the Palghar polls, people come to polling stations only to see EVMs not functioning. Time has come for all parties to come together and file a case against the EC for introducing a corrupt system in holding elections in the country. This is because the EC has become corrupt,” he said.
“In addition, to bring about fair play into the system, I demand that the chief election commissioner and others should be elected by the people instead of being appointed the Government from time to time. For the time being, if he has respect for democracy, he should intervene and inquire as to what went wrong,” Thackeray said. while rooting for appointment of international observers to supervise the elections in the country.