New Delhi, Sept. 24 -- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, while reiterating his earlier claims of "vote-chori".
Mounting an all out attack, Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and CEC Kumar were "deshdrohis" (traitors) as they "destroyed" India's vote, and demanded that the CEC should immediately resign. The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha advised CEC Kumar to turn "approver", while noting that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had done a good thing by accepting in a way that "vote chori" is happening.
Alleging that all elections are "rigged" and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were "completely fake", Gandhi asserted that Modi and Shah would be probed for what they have done to this country. He cited states like Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, questioning how the anti-incumbency in these states had "disappeared."
Gandhi's address at a press conference at Indira Bhawan came after an investigative report from The Indian Express newspaper said that Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi recorded objections to decisions taken in the commission's name at least 14 times over 10 months.
"... I have shown it with proof, and there is already more than enough information to make this a 100 per cent certainty that Indian elections, Lok Sabha elections, 2024 election, Vidhan Sabha elections are all being rigged," Gandhi said. The Congress MP further said that the two Election Commissioners had "done a wise thing", while adding that the CEC must "think seriously and turn approver".
The BJP hit back at Gandhi's latest allegations of "vote chori", rejecting his argument that the "disappearance" of anti-incumbency in several states is evidence of manipulation of elections and accused the Congress leader of lacking basic understanding of India's electoral history.
Snubbing Gandhi's "vote chori'' charge, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi questioned the Congress leader's claim that anti-incumbency had somehow disappeared in states where the BJP or its allies have repeatedly remained competitive.
"He has no knowledge of Indian politics. Congress has not been in power in Tamil Nadu since 1967. BJP didn't exist back then. In Bengal, there has been no Congress government since 1977. In Bihar, there has been no Congress government since 1990. In UP, Congress has not been in power since 1989. Since 1999, Congress has not been in power in Odisha. Rahul Gandhi has no knowledge of this... Ever since transparent elections have taken place, CCTV cameras have come in, and independent media has arrived, they've started finding it difficult to come to power," BJP's Rajya Sabha MP added.
Slamming Kumar, he said what the CEC has done is an act against the Indian nation.
"This is an attack on the Constitution and the legal structure of the country. You were supposed to ensure that the vote was protected. We have enough information to prove this with certainty. There are going to be consequences to this. We are not going to let democracy be destroyed and sit silent. Those responsible will be punished," Gandhi said.
"The prime minister and Amit Shah are both going to be investigated for what has been done. Without any doubt, both the PM and Amit Shah, are at the top of this conspiracy and they are going to be investigated for what they have done to this country," Gandhi said and added that this is an act against the Indian state and its people.
"We refuse to sit silent while this happens. These are 'deshdrohis (traitors)'. A person who attacks the vote and fundamentally destroys India's democratic institutions is nothing other than a 'deshdrohi'," Gandhi said.
He also played out a few videos and asked people to listen to the tone of Modi and Shah. In the videos, Shah is heard saying the BJP will be in power for 30 years and the prime minister raising the slogan 'Abki Baar 400 Paar'.
No political leader who operates in a democratic environment can make such statements, Gandhi said. In India, there is a fundamental force called anti-incumbency which starts to resist and it does not spare anybody, he said.
"Indira Gandhi wins the Bangladesh War and within a year or two, massive pressure mounts due to anti-incumbency. It happens to leader after leader. It does not happen to Modi, Shah and the BJP - now we know the answer to it," Gandhi said.
Vote is the foundation of our democracy, Gandhi said, adding that the vote protected by the EC protects the Constitution. "If the vote has been destroyed then our Constitution has been destroyed, it no longer has the power. If the Constitution is destroyed laws are illegal and our institutions are meaningless," he said.
"Conspirators stole the vote, laws were stolen through vote theft, the country's institutions were stolen...Not only that - the laws made after the vote theft are illegal," Gandhi said.
Five Left parties also demanded removal of CEC Kumar and halt on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, announcing week-long protests across the country from September 26 to October 2.
The announcement followed a meeting of CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby, CPI general secretary D Raja and CPI(ML)-Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya at A K Gopalan Bhawan here, after which the leaders addressed a press conference.
In a joint statement, the CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML)-Liberation, along with the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) demanded restoration of voting rights for those "wrongfully excluded" from electoral rolls and sought measures to restore the credibility and independent functioning of the Election Commission.
Dipankar Bhattacharya said the Left parties had three key demands -- "impeachment and prosecution of Gyanesh Kumar, immediate suspension of the SIR process, and restoration of voting right to all wrongfully-excluded voters".
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.