New Delhi: Immediately after the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday announced the dates for the 18th Lok Sabha elections, the Left Parties appealed to the commission to be neutral and work impartially. “We welcome the decision to conduct the entire election process in seven phases. And with this announcement, the commission has a huge task to ensure free and fair elections,” said former MP and national general secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) D Raja while speaking to ETV Bharat.
“The commission should ensure a level playing environment for all political parties. We will see how the EC approaches,” said Raja and added “The commission talks about money and muscle power. However, they should remember that the ruling party uses such factors in a big way.” While announcing the dates for the 18th Lok Sabha elections, Chief Election Commissioner (ECI) Rajiv Singh said that the commission has directed the Central, State and District Level Election Machinery to be completely impartial, fearless, objective and independent from any influence whatsoever.
“Following the announcement of the election dates, the Model Code of Conduct has been implemented. However, the Model Code of Conduct does not apply to the opposition parties only,” said Raja. Echoing the same view, former MP and Central Committee member of the Communist Party of India (CPI-Marxist) Hannan Mollah said that the Election Commission has a big role to play in ensuring free and fair elections.
“We expect that the Election Commission will remain impartial during the entire election process,” said Mollah. Election Commissioner Singh said that the commission is committed to maintaining the purity of elections and to delivering free, fair, transparent, peaceful, inclusive, accessible, ethical and participative elections in the country.
Meanwhile, welcoming the election dates for the Lok Sabha elections, Union Minister and BJP’s heavyweight candidate from the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat in Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal, said that all NDA partners in Assam will together approach the voters. “During our election campaign, we will tell people about the performance in the last 10 years of the Narendra Modi government,” said Sonowal.
Sonowal is optimistic that under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the NDA will again form the government at the Centre for the third consecutive time. “We intend to build a strong India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The NDA will fight the election with total dedication. I hope for the third time the people will elect Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister. In Assam we will get more than 12 seats,” said Sonowal.
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