The Communist Party of India (CPI) has appealed to the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s muscle power tactics and shelving of set democratic norms for securing maximum number of seats in the legislative council elections in Uttar Pradesh.
In a press statement issued on Thursday, CPI state secretary, Dr Girish alleged that the BJP had thrown the dignity of democracy to the winds in the ongoing legislative council election.
"It is dangerous for democracy. The CPI condemns the saffron-fascism in the strongest words and urges the Supreme Court to take action against the ruling dispensation for tampering with the mandate. The excesses which are being committed are very disturbing. They are being seen on news channels, social media and news related to it is also being published in newspapers," he said.
Dr Girish further said, "We cannot limit the BJP’s tactics in words by saying it is muscle tactics only. The BJP men chased opposition candidates, proposers and supporters at nomination centres, thrashed them. What is more, several of the candidates were put under house arrest. Not only this, several proposers are missing while several candidates were bullied and forced to withdraw their nominations."
The CPI leader further said that several opposition party candidates left the fray, fearing retribution and violence and several may quit the fray in the time to come.
"The BJP is repeating the same dirty tactics that it opted in the panchayat elections. Returning officers are hapless and administrative officers are mere puppets," he said.
Lambasting the BJP for misuse of government machinery to coerce and threaten opposition candidates, Dr Girish said that it would be better if the BJP appointed MLCs instead of making a hash of an election. He appealed to the opposition parties to unite and take on the BJP over this issue.