As for the bill removing the parity with the Election Commission, Acharyulu said: “(The) Supreme Court (had) proclaimed the RTI as the constitutional right emanating from Article 19(1)(a) which guaranteed freedom of speech and expression. The Election Commission enforces the right to vote, which is part of (the) expression right under Article 19(1)(a)…. “In a way, the CEC enforces only a small part of the expression right while the CIC is entrusted with the enforcement of a wider aspect of the expression right — the right to information. It contested the government’s insistence that the RTI architecture cannot be equated with the Election Commission. The Campaign described the bill as a “legislative sleight” and as another example of this government’s “characteristic intention to disempower democratic institutions”.

Source: The Telegraph July 20, 2019 20:49 UTC