CPI(ML) welcomes the Supreme Court Constitution Bench verdict on the appointment of members of the Election Commission of India. The Modi government had been brazen in its relentless attempt to erode the autonomy of the Election Commission by packing it with handpicked bureaucrats. While the SC verdict can be expected to put some check on the executive in future appointments, it is surely a matter of grave concern that the appointments that have already taken place remain in force despite the adverse observations of the SC. A redeeming aspect though is the declaration that the right to vote in direct elections is a fundamental right.

We also welcome the Supreme Court refusal to accept the Modi government's 'sealed cover' recommendations regarding the constitution of a probe panel to investigate the regulatory failure in the Adani scam. While insisting on the time-bound completion of the probe within the stipulated period of two months, we however find the scope of the probe quite limited since it only focuses on investor protection from the volatility triggered by the Hindenburg report. The question of the Modi government's role and more specifically the Modi-Adani nexus and the larger picture of financial insecurity caused to the country at large because of the involvement of key financial institutions like the SBI and LICI do not figure in the probe mandated by the SC.

We therefore appeal to the people of India to demand answers to all the relevant questions to get to the bottom of the Adani scam and hold the Modi government accountable for the disastrous rise of crony capitalism in India and the toll it is taking by promoting a monumental fraud and corporate plunder of the proportions of the Adani scam.

Dipankar Bhattacharya
General Secretary
for Central Committee, CPI(ML) Liberation