BJP MP Sambit Patra on Wednesday defended the Election Commission of India (ECI) amid the row over alleged dissent among its members during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, saying correspondence between the three Election Commissioners on 14 occasions showed that there had been official deliberations within the poll panel.
Addressing a press conference, Patra said, "...You know how, since 2014, when the Modi government came to power, opposition parties have been falling one after another. They did not fall on a battlefield, but in the democratic arena, as their existence came under threat because they were not chosen by the people."
