The Leader of the Opposition in Pakistan, Syed Shibli Faraz, commended India for its recent general elections, lauding the process as free and fair. He expressed a desire for a similar electoral process in Pakistan. India concluded the 18th Lok Sabha Elections in seven phases, starting April 20 to June 1, and the results for the same came on June 4.
Narendra Modi-led BJP got the majority of votes while Congress came in the second position. Later on June 9, Modi took oath as the Prime Minister of India. The event was graced by heads of the neighbouring nations.
VIDEO: Opposition leader Shibli Faraz praised the Indian electoral process
Meanwhile, Faraz highlighted the extensive scale of India's elections, with over 800 million voters participating across thousands of polling stations, some even serving just one voter. He noted the absence of allegations regarding election rigging and praised the smooth transfer of power. He emphasised the need for Pakistan to emulate such transparency to strengthen its political system.
"I don’t want to quote the example of our enemy country. Recently, elections were held in India, and over 800 million people cast their votes. There were thousands and lakhs of polling stations, with some polling stations even established for just one voter in a place. The entire month-long exercise was conducted with the help of EVMs. Was there a single voice claiming that the election was rigged?" asked Faraz.
This acknowledgement of India's electoral integrity echoes recent praise from Pakistani Ambassador Husain Haqqani, who also applauded India's democratic system. Haqqani marvelled at India's democracy, citing statistics such as the 44-day election period, 900 million eligible voters, 640 million ballots cast (half by women), 67% turnout, 1.1 million polling booths, and 5.5 million electronic voting machines.
US praises India's elections
Indian elections are the largest exercise of electoral franchise in the world, the United States said Thursday. “We celebrate the election that happened in India; it was the largest exercise of electoral franchise in any country anytime in history,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters here at his daily news conference.
He was responding to a question on the recent election results and representation on Muslims in the Indian parliament. Miller, however, refrained from responding to such a question asserting that this is for the people of India to decide. “I am just not going to comment on the Indian elections other than what we have said before, which is the electoral matters are matters for the Indian people to decide,” he said.
“For specific results of that election, it’s just not something we comment on,” Miller said.
(With inputs from agency)
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