For the first time, we prohibited hate speeches and even stopped star campaigners, Chief Election Commissioner, V S Sampath, told Business Line in an exclusive interview.
Speaking to the Hindu Group in the first floor office of the Commission, Sampath said that it is unfounded to say that the commission was soft or did not take action. "Our actions speak for themselves,'' the CEC said.
He added that the manner in which the commission acted on various issues, including taking a decision on appointment, cannot be called a delay or sitting on the issue.
The CEC reiterated that the decision to not allow Modi rally in Varanasi was taken after carefully examining the reports which had been received from the highest state-level authorities, including the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police and also the District Administration.
Sampath said that the entire election process was not too long, while pointing out that in 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the election announcement was made on March 2, 2009 and the counting was done on May 16, 2009.
"This time the election process began on March 5 and the counting is on May 16. So we actually cut down the process of elections by three days,” he pointed out.