Election Commission 'failed' people of India; silent spectator to BJP's 'excesses': Chidambaram
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Sunday accused the Election Commission of being "silent spectator" to the "excesses" of the BJP and to the utterances of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the poll body has "largely failed" the people of India.
The former Union Finance and Union Home Minister also said the plank of nationalism, propagated by the BJP, is a ploy to hide "failures" of the NDA government.
"According to me, the Election Commission has largely failed the people of India. It has been a silent spectator to the excesses of the BJP, Mr Modi's utterances and the enormous amount of money that has been spent by the BJP," he told PTI in an interview.
Recently, the opposition has complained to the EC alleging that the PM had "brazenly" violated the poll code by invoking armed forces repeatedly during his poll rallies and demanded that a campaign ban be imposed on him for some time.
The Congress has said it has given 37 representations to the EC of which 10 can be categorised under "hate speeches, virulent, divisive, polarising" by Modi and BJP President Amit Shah.
In the interview, Chidambaram answered questions ranging from the possibility of UPA-III coming to power after the Lok Sabha polls, recent searches by the Income Tax department, the CBI and Enforcement Directorate on some opposition leaders, besides other issues.
Chidambaram claimed that the EC has been asking accounts of every opposition candidate and even on their small spendings like on a flag.
"They (EC) are adding what it is called notional expenditure, to the expenditure account of the candidates. If you apply the same standard, every BJP candidate will be disqualified," he said.
Asked about the BJP raising the issue of nationalism during the campaigning, the Congress leader asked whether Indians were anti-nationals before the BJP came to power.
"Nationalism is a slogan to hide their failure. Every Indian is a patriot. No patriot can be called anti-national. The BJP has manipulated the media to sell this idea of nationalism which has no meaning. The only relevant question is (whether) every Indian is happier than what he was five years ago. I am saying 'No'. Every Indian is living in fear. Women, Dalits, Scheduled Tribes, journalists, academicians, all of them are living in fear," he claimed.
Asked about the prospects of the formation of the UPA-III government by the opposition after the general elections, the Congress leader said he was absolutely confident that the BJP will not be able to retain power.
"The government will be a non-BJP government. Obviously, that is Congress plus preelection allies which will play a big part. If there are more postelection allies, then I think the UPA-III has a very good chance," he said.
Chidambaram said there is a "reality" that all non-BJP parties like the SP, BSP and Trinamool Congress will join hands with the Congress to form a stable government.
"I am very confident that the SP, BSP and the TMC, which are now contesting separately, will join hands with the Congress and other UPA parties," he said.
Chidambaram said after the Lok Sabha elections, the reality will be set up and the reality is that all non-BJP parties, particularly all secular progressive parties, will have to come together to form a stable government.
The Congress leader said never before in India, certainly not in election period, has the Income Tax department, the CBI, and the Enforcement Directorate were so "blatantly misused".
"There are 545 constituencies in India. Is unaccounted money found only in opposition candidates contesting some constituencies? No BJP candidate has got unaccounted money?
"They said tip-offed. Tip-offs (come) only about opposition candidates? There is no tip-offs about the BJP candidates? What about the huge amount spent in every PM rally? Every (PM) rally must be costing about Rs 10 crore. Where is these money coming from? Who is paying for the rallies? Where is that accounted for?," he asked.
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Indian-origin translator Padma Viswanathan shortlisted for International Booker Prize 2026
New Delhi (PTI): Padma Viswanathan, a Canadian-American writer of Indian-origin, has made it to the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist as the English translator of a Portuguese language novella.
"On Earth As It Is Beneath" by Brazilian author Ana Paula Maia, described by judges as a "brutal, haunting and hypnotic novella set in a remote Brazilian penal colony, where the boundaries between justice and cruelty collapse", is among the six worldwide contenders for the coveted literary honour.
The annual prize worth GBP 50,000, divided equally between the author and translator, was won last year by Kannada writer-activist Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi for the short story collection "Heart Lamp". Each shortlisted title guarantees a prize of GBP 5,000 -- also split 50-50 between the book’s author and English translator.
"What struck us most is how spare, unflinching, uncompromising and relentless it is. Maia builds an entire moral universe out of very little: a remote prison, a handful of men, and the rituals of punishment that govern their lives.
"The novel reads almost like a dark fable about power, where brutality is ordinary and civilisation feels frighteningly thin," the judging panel, which also include award-winning Indian novelist and columnist Nilanjana S. Roy, said of the work translated by US-based Viswanathan.
The 58-year-old professor of creative writing at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville is an accomplished playwright and author, whose novels have been published in eight countries.
The list, announced on Tuesday, is dominated by women, with five of the six authors and four of the six translators being female. The authors and translators represent eight countries -- Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Taiwan, the UK and the United States.
"With narratives that capture moments from across the past century, these books reverberate with history. While there’s heartbreak, brutality and isolation among these stories, their lasting effect is energising," said author Natasha Brown, chair of this year’s judging panel.
The other books include "The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran" by Shida Bazyar and translated from German by Ruth Martin; "She Who Remains" by Rene Karabash and translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel; "The Director" by Daniel Kehlmann and translated from German by Ross Benjamin; "Taiwan Travelogue" by Yáng Shuāng-zi and translated from Taiwanese by Lin King; and "The Witch" by Marie Ndiaye and translated from French by Jordan Stump.
The announcement of the winning book will take place on May 19 at a ceremony at Tate Modern in London.
The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for a single work of fiction -- either a novel or a collection of short stories -- written in another language, translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland.
According to the organisers, the 2025 winner "Heart Lamp" –- the first collection of short stories to win the prize and the first translated from Kannada –- rapidly sold out in the UK in the subsequent days, with the UK publisher, And Other Stories, immediately reprinting 40,000 copies.
