Owaisi welcomes SC ruling on appointment of CEC, ECs

Hyderabad: IMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court ruling that the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners will be done by the President on the advice of a committee comprising Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.

Addressing a public meeting organised here on the occasion of AIMIM’s 65th Foundation Day, he hoped that transparency will come with the SC decision and that the Election Commissioner would be more independent.

“For democracy, it is necessary that transparency comes in the Election Commission and he (Election Commissioner) gets more independence,” he said.

During the debate on Article 324 in the Constituent Assembly, all favoured more powers to the Election Commissioner, he said.

In a landmark verdict aimed at insulating the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners from the executive’s interference, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that their appointments will be done by the President on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the CJI.

Owaisi spoke about the comments of radical preacher Amritpal Singh in Punjab, and in an apparent reference to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he asked as to why is the latter silent on the issue.

“We would like to ask India’s Prime Minister. In Punjab, one ‘saahab’ has come from Dubai. His name is Amrit. BJP says it is ‘Amritkaal’. Who is this Amrit in ‘Amritkaal’ and why is the Amit silent?,” he said.

“If any Muslim said the same thing, our TV anchors would have shown it 24 hours. (They would have said) ‘Owaisi said this today. He spoke about the country’. But, what is this? Nothing is said on this,” he said.

The AIMIM president asked his party leaders to start preparations for the Assembly elections to be held in Telangana later this year.

The preparations should be to see that hatred ends and peace wins and the progress of Telangana continues, he said.

He said the people have to decide whether they want “Constitution or bulldozer.”

The AIMIM president said his party would increase its strength in the Telangana Assembly polls. At present, the party has seven members in the Telangana Assembly.

Alleging that the BJP is moving forward in the State with a message of hatred, he hoped that the people of Telangana would reject it.

He indicated that the AIMIM would also contest in the upcoming Karnataka and Rajasthan Assembly polls.

Reiterating his allegation on “China’s intrusions into Indian territory,” he attacked External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s reported comments that ‘China is a bigger economy than India’s”.

He said AIMIM would like to ask the Prime Minister, ‘RSS people’ and the ‘BJP-bhakts’ whether India is small.

“The country does not become big or small with economy, Modi ji. The country becomes big by having a big heart,” he said.

If a country becomes big or small on the basis of its economy, why is Ukraine fighting against Russia and why did Vietnam fight with the US, he asked.

“BJP and the PM does not have faith on the country’s army and the people. You say India is small because of economy. What ‘Vishwa guru’ the PM is talking about,” he said.

Wondering what message would have gone to the world, including US, Britain and other countries, he said the message would be that India considers China to be big and sees itself as small.

Though China is big, India cannot lose its territory, he said. India is also a nuclear power, he added.

Referring to ‘Junaid and Naseer’ (two Rajasthan men whose charred bodies were found in Haryana), he alleged that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot did not go to console their family members. However, there is information that Gehlot may go because AIMIM is speaking about it, he said.

AIMIM condemns the deaths of Junaid and Naseer in Rajasthan and also Khadeer Khan in Telangana allegedly following police interrogation recently, he said.