Initiating the discussion, the Trinamul Congress’s Derek O’Brien underscored the need to discuss the Election Commission and flagged how BJP leaders had repeatedly flouted a directive to keep the defence forces out of the poll narrative. “We need to look into how the Election Commission is appointed,” he asserted. However, all these amendments were brought in through the Finance Bill, over which the Rajya Sabha does not have veto powers. Sibal also referred to the BJP flouting the Election Commission’s advisory to all political parties to refrain from using the armed forces in their campaign. He ran into rough weather over a comment suggesting that the poll panel had been silent when the BJP flouted the advisory.

Source: The Telegraph July 03, 2019 20:12 UTC