India on Thursday strongly rejected the recent claims of Canada alleging New Delhi's interference in its elections. India asserted that Ottawa's meddling in India's internal affairs has always been the core issue.
Recently, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in its report has named India as a ‘foreign’ interference threat.
"We have seen media reports about the Canadian commission enquiring into...We strongly reject all such baseless allegations of Indian interference in Canadian elections," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
According to the CTV News, the Canadian federal commission's terms of reference is primarily to examine the possible interference by China, Russia and other foreign states or non-state actors in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
"It is not the government of India's policy to interfere in democratic processes of other countries. In fact, quite on the reverse, it is Canada which has been interfering in our internal affairs," Jaiswal said.
"We have been raising this issue regularly with them. We continue to call on Canada to take effective measures to address our core concerns," he said.
The Canadian intel report also alleged that China sought to influence its last two federal elections as well.
India and Canada diplomatic relations became tense after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged the former's involvement in the death of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. Following the allegations and counter-allegations, Canada had expelled an Indian diplomat posted in Ottawa. India had also asked Canada to reduce its number of diplomats in India as well.
India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.
