‘EC must make its consent mandatory for CBI, ED, IT raids’

TPCC Senior Vice-President G. Niranjan appealed to the Election Commission that it should make it mandatory for the CBI, the ED and the Income Tax departments to obtain the permission of the Election Commission if they want to conduct raids urgently just before elections.
Addressing the media at the Gandhi Bhavan here on Saturday, Niranjan said that the BJP is conspiring to make elections one-sided. He said the raids conducted by the CBI, the ED and the Income Tax departments across the country make this clear.
He said that for ‘targeting’ the opposition, the BJP is using Central agencies and trying to deflect the focus of the opposition and its leaders from the elections.
He said that a delegation of I.N.D.I.A. met Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar regarding this on Friday and suggested steps to conduct elections impartially.
He said that the Election Commission has wide powers. The policing system and the administrative machinery are under the control of the Election Commission till the elections are over. “We are also aware of the recent transfer of the West Bengal DGP and transfers in TG. Similarly, the EC should make it mandatory for the CBI, the ED and the Income Tax departments to get the permission of the Election Commission if they have to conduct any raids urgently just before elections,” he said.
Niranjan said that a vetting committee should be set up in the Election Commission to examine and give permissions to the CBI, the ED and the Income Tax departments if raids are urgently needed. If the raids are not urgent then such raids should be prohibited until the elections are over.