‘Baseless’: India rejects allegations that it interfered in Canadian elections

The foreign ministry said that on the contrary, it is Ottawa that has been interfering in New Delhi’s internal affairs.

Feb 9, 2024 - 09:00
‘Baseless’: India rejects allegations that it interfered in Canadian elections

India on Thursday said it strongly rejects allegations that it tried to influence democratic processes in Canada.

“We have seen media reports about [the] Canadian Commission enquiring into foreign interference and there have been some related developments as well,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said at a press briefing. “We strongly reject such baseless allegations of Indian interference in Canadian elections. It is not Government of India’s policy to interfere in the democratic process of other countries.”

Jaiswal said that on the contrary, it is Canada that has been interfering in India’s internal affairs. “We have been raising this issue regularly with them,” he said. “We continue to call on Canada to take effective measures to address our core concerns.”

This comes amid strained diplomatic ties between Ottawa and New Delhi over India’s alleged involvement in the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down near Vancouver by two masked men, in June.

On January 24, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service named India as a foreign interference threat that tried to influence democratic processes in the North American country.

The authority, in a document dated February 24, 2023, called for more efforts “to protect Canada’s robust democratic institutions and processes”.

According to Global News, while the document had nearly three...

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