Hafta 479: Katchatheevu controversy, the role of India’s Election Commission

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande are joined by ex-Chief Election Commissioner Dr SY Quraishi, and academic Professor R Manivannan.

Dr Quraishi says that ensuring a level-playing field is the Election Commission’s “dharma”. He says it is necessary for conducting free and fair elections which are “a basic structure of the

Constitution”. He adds that the EC follows the principle of “what can wait must wait”, and asks whether the arrest of opposition leaders could have waited.

On the Katchatheevu island issue, Prof. Manivannan says the island was historically “within the revenue region of the king of Ramanathapuram”, adding that by 1976, the fishing rights of 

Tamil fishermen had been taken away in the region. “What happens to the population that relies on fishing in the region?” he asks.

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Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta and Priyali Dhingra, edited by Hassan Bilal and Umrav Singh.