‘EC played like puppets, Gyanesh Kumar a thief’: Opposition fury at INDIA meet - The Indian Express

Amid the row over the rupture within the Election Commission, top leaders of the INDIA bloc met on Wednesday and decided to hold a joint protest march to the ECI on October 6. Following the meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a press conference that the ECI is being played like puppets by Modi and Shah and added that the Opposition parties will hold a massive “save democracy” rally in New Delhi on November 1.

TMC leader Mamata Banerjee reiterated the demand for the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar and slamming the BJP and ECI, Banerjee said, “They looted in Bengal. We went to ECI and the Supreme court. Now everything is out in the open.  Gyanesh Kumar is a thief. He burnt EVMs. He must resign immediately. Let’s save democracy. Our forceful demand is that if Gyanesh Kumar is not removed then this movement will reach the sky from the ground. Why were EVMs burnt?”

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, ” All parties opined that Indian democratic system has been attacked by Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Gyanesh. We will ensure people who have destroyed Indian democracy are punished.”

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Elaborating on the protest agenda, Kharge said, “We have designed a programme for the people of the country, the NGOs and people who believe in democracy… We will do a “save democracy” march from October 2-8 in all districts across the country. On October 6, all Opposition MPs will march to the ECI office in Delhi. All MPs from both houses will take part irrespective of their political affiliation if they believe in saving the country.”

Stating that the Opposition’s task is to ensure that the people of India remain the final and unquestioned authority in our democracy,  Kharge told his Opposition allies that they should demand “voting through ballots instead of EVMs”.

A while ago, addressing the INDIA bloc meeting with 20 allies in attendance, Kharge listed out six demands of the Opposition and said that the Opposition “will not allow transparency to be replaced by secrecy”. “And we will not allow the fundamental principle of our Republic— one person, one vote, one value— to be weakened,” said Kharge.

Among the Opposition’s six demands listed out by Kharge were that “the pre-SIR electoral roll to be used for future elections”. “Complete transparency in every electoral-roll revision, including constituency-wise and booth-wise information on additions, deletions and corrections,” said Kharge.

“Second — due notice, reasons and an effective appeal mechanism before any legitimate voter is removed from the roll,” added Kharge.

“Third, protection of eligible voters from exclusion caused by administrative failures, inadequate documentation or lack of awareness…. Fourth, voting through ballots instead of EVMs,” said Kharge.

“Institutional accountability and an Election Commission that commands confidence across the political spectrum,” said Kharge.

Sources in the TMC said that Mamata Banerjee has told the allies that the entire SIR exercise that was carried out “was in a botched-up manner”. “I cannot move out of the house now” – she said while highlighting the post-poll scenario and “autocracy” of BJP, sources said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, the TMC’s Mamata Banerjee, and leaders from parties such as the SP, CPI, CPI(M), NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), among others, were present at the meeting.

The Congress emphasised that the opposition stands united to protect the Constitution from “repeated assaults” of the Modi government, including its “vote chori gameplan” to remain in power.

Congress spokersperson Jairam Ramesh posted on X, “INDIA bloc meeting has just begun. The parties participating in it are INC, SP, AITC, NCP(SP), SS (UBT), RJD, CPM, CPI, JKNC, JKPDP, JMM, CPI-ML, IUML, KC(M), MDMK, VCK, RSP, KC(J) and AIFB.

These and other opposition parties are united to protect India’s Constitution from the repeated attacks by the Modi government— the most recent of which is the conspiracy to steal votes through the ECI in order to stay in power.”

The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, has been in the eye of a storm over various alleged irregularities in the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the deletion of over 13 crore voters from the draft electoral rolls during the exercise and the Opposition parties have been pressing for his resignation over the past few weeks.

The Indian Express had reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation. Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC on Wednesday removed the SIR declaration added to the statutory voter enrolment form, Form 6, from its ECINET application portal in states where the SIR has concluded.

The Opposition bloc’s last meeting took place in June this year. Pledging unity against the BJP, the INDIA bloc members had unanimously decided to demand then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over the NEET-CBSE row. Following the meeting in June, there has been major developments in the country’s political landscape, including protests over paper leaks at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and elsewhere.

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More