{
  "id": 17413477,
  "title": "Bandi Sanjay defends ECI, questions Congress’ morality",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/bandi-sanjay-defends-eci-questions-congress-morality",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-31T14:14:07.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Hindu",
    "slug": "the-hindu",
    "url": "https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/bandi-sanjay-defends-eci-questions-congress-morality/article71649542.ece"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar harshly criticized the Congress party on Saturday, accusing them of targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Mr. Kumar alleged that the Congress was politicizing the Election Commission of India (ECI) and questioning its credibility each time electoral results did not align with their expectations. At a press conference, he demanded that the Congress party explain its electoral losses rather than persistently questioning the ECI's integrity.\n\nHe pointed to a pattern of the Congress rewarding former Election Commissioners with political positions, suggesting they lacked moral grounds to challenge the independence of the constitutional body. Citing past examples, Mr. Kumar mentioned R.K. Trivedi, who became Governor of Gujarat after his tenure as Chief Election Commissioner, and V.S. Ramadevi, who served as Governor of Himachal Pradesh. He also highlighted the case of T.N. Seshan, who was appointed from Gandhinagar during the 1999 Lok Sabha election.\n\nFurthermore, Mr. Sanjay Kumar raised concerns about the allocation of MPLADS funds by Congress MPs to trusts linked with former CEC Navin Chawla. He questioned the Congress's criticism of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, pointing out that the party had won elections in Telangana and Karnataka under ECI supervision, yet continued to doubt the institution during electoral setbacks. Additionally, he accused the Congress of aligning with entities possibly connected to foreign-funded networks and questioned whether their actions served the nation's best interests.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}