Thiruvananthapuram: Yielding to pressures from union ministers, the central investigating agencies are violating model code of conduct prevalent for elections in Kerala, said Chief Minister in the letter sent to Election Commissioner.
Enforcement Directorate(ED) is oppressing KIIFB officials by summoning them relentlessly for interrogations. The interrogators lack decency in their demeanor even toward women officials.
There is no current topic they are dealing with. Rather, ED is quizzing left, right and centre on masala bonds issued in May of 2019. Incidentally, these bonds do not have any emergency feature about them.
The Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman’s address to a BJP campaign meeting when she arrived in Kochi on 28 February, is indicative of her political interventions. She had launched scathing attack on KIIFB and the state govt budget in her speech. The haste with which ED now conducts itself and their selective leaks to media, are a result of those interventions.
ED functions under the Union Finance Ministry helmed by Nirmala Sitaraman. Potential witnesses in a case should be summoned exclusively to gather information or evidences relevant to the case. However, what’s happening now is ED summoning officials to make selective leaks to media in order to spur politically motivated propaganda.
The union finance minister is intervening in ways that will diminish public trust in central agencies. The powers of these agencies are being abused to secure electoral gains for the ruling party at centre and Opposition in Kerala.
The Election Commission should make needful intervention to ensure free and fair elections in the state and rein in investigating agencies so they conduct themselves in line with law, CM demanded in the letter.
