External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar has said that India doesn’t need UN to tell that elections in the country should be free and fair, dismissing a senior UN official’s statement on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Jaishankar’s response has come after global body’s Secretary General Stephane Dujarric in a statement said that they “hope” in India, people’s “political and civil rights” were protected and everyone is able to vote in a “free & fair” atmosphere.
Jaishankar, who was here to campaign for his ministerial colleague and BJP candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar in the Lok Sabha polls, also said that the UN official made the comment on the Indian elections last week in response to a “very loaded question” during a press briefing at the UN.
“I don’t need the United Nations to tell me our elections should be free & fair. I have the people of India. The people of India will ensure that elections are free & fair. So, don’t worry about it,” the minister told reporters during an interaction.
Last week, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric was asked about the “political unrest” in India ahead of the upcoming national elections in the wake of the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the freezing of the opposition Congress Party’s bank accounts.
“What we very much hope that in India, as in any country that is having elections, that everyone’s rights are protected, including political and civil rights, and everyone is able to vote in an atmosphere that is free and fair,” Dujarric had said.
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