ECI not serious on by-polls: NC, Cong

Srinagar/April,22: A day after National Conference and Congress boycotted the video conference with Election Commission of India on discussing holding of by-polls for Anantnag parliament seat, the opposition parties said that the election holding is “not serious” and the meetings are “meaningless”.
National Conference Provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani as quoted by local news gathering agency KNS said Election Commission of India “is not serious on such issues”.
“Last time, we had appealed the deputy election commission to postpone the by-polls but they did not consider our suggestions. This time ECI gave us a timeslot and we had agreed to meet at SKICC. Then they intimated us that the meeting has been rescheduled and will be through video conference at Police Control Room,” Wani said.
“If such a serious issue is being discussed on video conference, then it is clear that the ECI is not serious. And holding of elections is being decided under the directive of the government. So, it was meaningless to attend the meeting,” added.
Congress president G A Mir said Election Commission of India was dancing on the tunes of Centre and State governments.
“Election Commission being a prestigious Institution has lost its credibility; it has utterly failed to perform its legitimate duties. ECI cancelled its scheduled meeting in SKICC for unknown reasons and asked us to join the meeting through video conference from PCR, which is very unfortunate,” Mir said.
“So, Congress party decided not to participate in this this meeting and urged upon ECI to restore the credibility of this Institution,” he added.
The ruling party PDP had joined the conference and urged the ECI to further defer the by-polls on Anantnag parliament seat, which is scheduled on May 25.