Sitaram Yechury to Election Commission: Scrap MoUs with Gujarat corporates

 

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury described the MoUs as a “coercive step towards compulsory voting”.

THE CPI(M) has approached the Election Commission of India demanding that the MoUs signed by the Gujarat chief electoral officer with corporate houses in the state be scrapped.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury described the MoUs as a “coercive step towards compulsory voting”. He referred to a report published by The Indian Express in this regard. He said the EC’s move was “outrageous”.

“Involving corporates in enforcing the right to vote as a fundamental duty is outright unconstitutional. Apart from this it further involves the corporates in the conduct of the elections in an already controversial background of anonymous corporate funding through Electoral Bonds,” he wrote. He said the Centre had in 2015 told the Supreme Court that the introduction of compulsory voting could result in the creation of an undemocratic environment in the country.