New Delhi: Taking responsibility for vote theft, the Congress has demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar be removed from office and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah resign.
The Congress Working Committee meeting was held today (Tuesday) at the Congress headquarters, Indira Bhavan, in Delhi, under the chairmanship of party president Mallikarjun Kharge. Senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi attended the meeting.
The matter of the election commissioners reportedly registering their objections to the decisions of the Chief Election Commissioner, the issue of more than 130 million voters being removed from the voter list through the special intensive revision, and disputes related to Form 6, among others, were discussed at the executive committee meeting.
Following this, a resolution was passed at the Congress executive committee meeting. In that resolution, it was stated that the Chief Election Commissioner taking decisions related to the Election Commission without properly consulting the other election commissioners has increased concerns about the credibility of the election.
Both election commissioners have raised 14 objections over 10 months, alleging unauthorized and illegal changes were made to Form 6 used during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. This shows a pattern of overstepping institutional authority.
During the nationwide intensive special revision, control over the voter list was concentrated in the hands of a few officials backed by the BJP. This has completely destroyed the credibility of the Election Commission.
Already, the issue of 13.3 crore voters’ names being removed from the voter list has intensified questions about the constitutional validity of the SIR.
A process of questionable constitutional validity should not be allowed to determine who can vote in the world’s largest democracy. In this regard, the Congress party, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, has led various protests and brought the depth of the issue to the people.
The demand that the Election Commission’s functioning be ensured to be accountable and transparent has become nationwide. In keeping with the mood of the country, the Congress Working Committee decides the following matters.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who has lost all moral and institutional authority, must be removed from office immediately.
Given the concerns raised about the credibility and transparency of the voter lists prepared through the Special Intensive Revision, as well as the constitutional validity of its process, the Special Intensive Revision process must be suspended immediately.
The 133 million names removed from the voter list must be immediately reinstated.
A brazen vote theft has been planned by the Chief Election Commissioner for the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. Nothing short of their resignation will ensure the safety of our democracy.
The BJP and the officials it has chosen must understand that an appropriate response will be given to the theft of the people’s right to vote. Until the culprits are punished, until every citizen’s vote is secure, until the Election Commission is restored as an independent constitutional authority, the Congress party will fight against it in Parliament, in the courts, and on the streets.
The struggle to restore the system of voting rights for all adults is no less than India’s freedom struggle. “We will ensure that this struggle reaches its rightful conclusion,” it has been stated.
Earlier, a leading English daily had recently published an investigative report regarding the SIR exercise. It pointed out that differences of opinion exist between Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
Questions were raised in the report about various issues, including the change made in Form 6 and the stripping of state election officers’ authority in handling the ECINET software. Following this, opposition parties have been staging various protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
In this situation, it is noteworthy that the Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear the petition filed seeking the suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar from office, has also approved listing the petition next week.