The Freedom House report claiming India's status as a free country has declined to "partly free" is "misleading, incorrect and misplaced", the government today said in a sharp rebuttal to the assessment of the US-based think tank. That this was incorrect was evident from the fact that many states in India are ruled by parties other than the one at the national level, through an election process which is free and fair and which is conducted by an independent election body, said the government.
