Claims Of Indian Interference In Canada’s Poll Process Fall Flat During Public Inquiry – News18

Canadian bureaucrats have denied knowledge of any interference from India in the country’s federal elections, contrary to allegations by the country’s top intelligence agency. This revelation was made during a public hearing on foreign interference in the 2021 election.

During Canada’s Public Hearing on Foreign Interference in Elections, officials responsible for monitoring the campaign informed the commission that they were not made aware of any potential foreign interference activity originating from India.

“Panel of bureaucrats that monitored 2021 election tells foreign interference inquiry they were not informed of any potential FI (foreign interference) activity from India during the 2021 campaign,” said Steven Chase, senior parliamentary reporter of Canadian news outlet Globe and Mail.

Read More: Pakistan ‘Attempted’ To Meddle In ‘Canadian Politics’ to Counter India’s Growing Influence, Says Report

‘Not India’s policy’

Earlier, documents from Canada’s spy agency, made public at the inquiry looking into foreign interference, named India and Pakistan as two governments involved in attempts to influence the 2019 and 2021 votes. In documents made public on Thursday night, the country’s spy agency said the Pakistani government attempted to interfere in Canada’s federal elections to counter India’s growing global influence.

Canadian intelligence also named India in the document. “We strongly reject all such baseless allegations of Indian interference in Canadian elections,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in a statement sent to CBC News. This statement was a registration of the previous response issued in February.

“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. We have been raising this issue regularly with them. We continue to call on Canada to take effective measures to address our core concerns.”

In addition to naming India and Pakistan, a briefing note submitted to the Public Inquiry on Monday indicated Chinese interference during the election cycle. Prepared by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and provided to the Prime Minister’s Office in February 2023, the document titled “Briefing to the Prime Minister’s Office on Foreign Interference Threats to Canada’s Democratic Institutions” stated, “We know that the PRC clandestinely and deceptively interfered both in the 2019 and 2021 general elections.”