Karnataka: Election Commission of India gives agnipariksha after every election, says CEC Rajiv Kumar

The Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on March 12 said that even though people trust the election results, the Election Commission of India (ECI) gives agnipariksha (trial by fire) every time after elections.

He said this while addressing a press conference in Karnataka where he also responded to a question on whether the people of the state can trust the ECI for fair and free state elections.

''The results are accepted election after election and the transition of power each time has been smoothly done by ballot,'' he added.

He further said that in the last 70 years, India has managed to stabilize its social, cultural, Political, geographical, economic, and linguistic issues peacefully and through dialogue mainly because of established democracy which is possible only because people trust election results.

''Still, ECI gives agnipariskha every time after each election,'' Kumar said during the press conference.

Appreciating ECI's history of conducting elections for years, CEC Kumar said, '' The ECI recently completed the 400th state Assembly election in Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, 17 times election to the parliament ad 16 times presidential and vice presidential elections.

It is worth mentioning that in recent years, the commission has been subjected to heavy criticism by opposition leaders in the recent past over the conduct of elections and the announcement of poll schedules.

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