Indian govt treating Election Commission as subservient tool: Congress

The Congress on Friday hit out at the government, alleging that it was treating the Election Commission as its "subservient tool".

Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala charged that the government has fallen to a new low in destroying institutions in the country.

Citing reports that a Law Ministry official had sought the presence of the Chief Election Commissioner and ECs at a meeting with the PM's principal secretary, the Congress leader said this "was unheard of in independent India".

"Cat is out of the bag! What was whispered till now is a fact. PMO summoning ECI was unheard of in independent India. Treating EC as a subservient tool is yet another low in Modi Government's record of destroying every institution," Surjewala said on Twitter tagging news reports in this regard.

The reports said the CEC had reservations on a note from a Law Ministry official that the Principal Secretary to PM, P K Mishra, will chair a meeting on a common electoral roll and expects CEC to be present.