The Indian government denied allegations of its interference in the recent Canadian elections.

Documents from the Canadian intelligence agency, released during an investigation into foreign interference in Canadian elections, stated that the governments of India and Pakistan were involved in attempts to influence the 2019 and 2021 elections.

The spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Randeep Gajsual, said in a statement: "We strongly reject all these baseless allegations concerning Indian interference in Canadian elections."

Saying, "It is not the policy of the Indian government to interfere in the democratic processes of other countries. In fact, quite the opposite, Canada is the one interfering in our internal affairs, we have been raising this issue with them regularly, and we continue to do so." We call on Canada to take effective measures to address our core concerns."

The documents issued by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) accused India of interference in 2021, when it had the "intention to interfere and likely engaged in covert activities," including using an agent of the Indian government in Canada.

CSIS alleges that in 2021, the foreign interference activities of the Indian government "focused on a small number of electoral districts," and the Canadian intelligence and security agency wrote that the Indian government targeted those campaigns because there was a perception in India that "a portion of Indo-Canadian voters were sympathetic to the Khalistani movement or pro-Pakistani political stances."

All reports carry cautionary notes about the possibility that the summaries might be unconfirmed, single-sourced, or incomplete. CSIS Director David Vigneault informed the public inquiry that the intelligence is not necessarily a fact and may require further investigation.

CBC contacted the Pakistani High Commission on Friday morning but received no response.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that the government has continued to take steps to protect Canada from foreign influence in elections.

He added, "We have known for many years that many different countries are interested in engaging in Canadian institutions, sometimes influencing, and sometimes interfering in the work of Canadian institutions."

"I can assure people that we will continue to do everything necessary to prevent interference from any country it comes from."

Alleged interference may have multiple objectives

Wesley Wark, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said the intelligence summaries released by the investigation indicate that the alleged Indian interference had two main objectives.

Wark explained in an interview with CBC News: "One is that India is interested in trying to find ways to support its own messaging within the Canadian political space."

"But the other, and perhaps more concerning, is that there are indications that India tried to intimidate or suppress voters in diaspora communities—especially Sikh Canadians—to keep them out of the political game if possible, and suppress their voices."

Wark also said it was a big surprise that the CIA seemed very worried about Pakistan to the extent that it carried out a "threat reduction measure" in 2019, which included a range of actions.

He continued, "It could be something as simple as posting a marked police car outside the residence or workplace of a known threat representative, or it could be providing information to a foreign diplomat to say: 'Look, we know what you intend to do, please stop.'"

Wark said the public knows very little about the threat reduction measures taken by CSIS since it was granted the authority to carry them out in 2015.