The Indian government has denied allegations of interference in the past two Canadian elections.
Canadian spy agency documents released in investigation into foreign interference in Canadian elections name two governments, India and Pakistan, in attempts to influence votes in 2019 and 2021. .
“India strongly rejects all baseless allegations that India interfered in Canada’s elections,” Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
“It is not the policy of the Government of India to interfere in the democratic processes of other countries. In fact, quite the contrary, it is Canada that is interfering in our internal affairs. We regularly raise this issue with the Government of India. “We continue to raise this issue.” We call on Canada to take effective steps to address our core concerns. ”
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) document accuses India of intervening in 2021, including sending agents of the Indian government to Canada, saying they had “intended interference and may have conducted covert activities” did.
CSIS claims that the Indian government’s foreign interference activities were “concentrated in a small number of constituencies” in 2021. CSIS wrote that the Indian government targeted these vehicles because of India’s perception that “some Indo-Canadian voters are sympathetic to the Khalistan movement and pro-Pakistan political positions.” .
All reports include a caveat that summaries may be unsupported, single-source, or incomplete. CSIS Director David Vigneault told the public inquiry that the information was not necessarily true and further investigation may be required.
In response to documents released in an inquiry looking into interference in Canada’s elections, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that both the security and government structures are trying to “many different countries” try to interfere with Canadian institutions. He said he has known him for many years.
CBC contacted the Pakistan High Commission on Friday morning but did not receive a response.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday his government continues to take steps to protect Canada from foreign influence in elections.
“We have known for many years that many countries have an interest in engaging with Canadian institutions, sometimes influencing and sometimes interfering with the activities of Canadian institutions,” he said.
“I can assure people that we will continue to take all necessary steps to prevent interference from any country.”
