INDIA bloc protest

NEW DELHI: The INDIA bloc on Tuesday stepped up its protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with opposition parties demanding his resignation, scrapping of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and restoration of deleted names from electoral rolls.The demands were raised as INDIA bloc MPs marched from Parliament towards the Election Commission of India headquarters in New Delhi, alleging irregularities in the electoral roll revision process.

Congress’s key demands

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of trying to undermine citizens’ voting rights and alleged that the Election Commission was functioning at the government’s direction.“Look, we are fighting against the injustice of the fact that the government is stripping away everything—all the rights of the people. And today, the universal adult franchise that we received after Independence—this government is working to finish it off,” Kharge said.He alleged that the CEC was “merely a puppet of the government” and claimed the poll panel acted according to directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.“And the Election Commission, the CEC is merely a puppet of the government. Whatever Modi and Shah tell them to do, that is exactly what they do,” he said.Kharge further alleged that such functioning of institutions would harm democracy and the Constitution.“Because of this, democracy will be destroyed in this country, the Constitution will be finished, and Hitler-like rule will take over,” he said.

Opposition targets SIR, voter forms

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram alleged that the SIR exercise was disenfranchising citizens and questioned changes made to Forms 6 and 7.“This is a very, very serious issue. Anybody over the age of 18 and a citizen of India has a fundamental right to vote. But the exercise of the SIR, undertaken by the Election Commission of India, is disenfranchising our citizens from their fundamental right,” Chidambaram said.He said Form 6, which is used for enrolling first-time voters, contains questions about whether an applicant’s parents and grandparents were voters and where they voted.“Your right to vote is not dependent on the fact whether your parents were voters or not. This is not a question which can be asked in Form 6. Who inserted these questions into Form 6? If you can’t go past that question, you can’t enroll yourself as a voter,” he said.Chidambaram also questioned whether the Election Commission had taken the decisions unanimously or through a majority.“The Chief Election Commissioner cannot take decisions unilaterally. If these decisions were taken unilaterally by the Chief Election Commissioner, then it’s an illegal decision, and the entire exercise is completely illegal and ultra vires,” he said.On Form 7, Chidambaram alleged that the process meant for reporting voters who had died or moved away was being used for mass deletion of names.“It has been brought to light in Karnataka that one party worker of the BJP has filed 7,000 Form 7 applications to delete voters,” he alleged.“This is a complete abuse of the process. There is an illegality, abuse of process, and disenfranchisement happening in the SIR, which is depriving the right to vote, which is fundamental to us,” he said.Chidambaram demanded that the Election Commission reform itself and Kumar resign.“So, the Election Commission must immediately reform itself, and the Chief Election Commissioner must resign forthwith,” he said.

Kharge warns of continued protest

Kharge accused the government of trying to take away rights secured after Independence and said protecting voting rights was essential for safeguarding democracy and the Constitution.“Rajiv Gandhi ji has given the rights to the young voters, women voters, farmers, poor people who have been given the rights after independence. Today, the Modi government is trying to snatch away those rights,” Kharge said.“If we have a vote, democracy will be saved. If our democracy is saved, then everyone’s rights will be protected. The Constitution will also be protected,” Kharge said.He also accused the Election Commission of ignoring objections raised by its own members and alleged that electoral processes had been conducted incorrectly.“When your nominated members, your people, made a mistake when they spoke, then they made a wrong election and our people today, they have tried to mislead them and come to power,” he said.Kharge further warned those in power to leave office.“That is why we are doing this. First, leave the seat. Otherwise, there will be a commotion in the country. The people of the country will not sit quietly. This is my warning to them,” he said.

“People will do everything, but they are not ready to leave their freedom. The government should be destroyed,” Kharge added.Congress MP Rajeev Shukla also demanded Kumar’s resignation.“It is certain that Gyanesh Kumar will have to resign; people have lost faith in the Election Commission,” Shukla said.Congress MP Syed Nasir Hussain said, “Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should go. SIR should be scrapped. All the deleted votes should be put back into the voters’ list. A high-level inquiry should be conducted to find out the forces behind this conspiracy and to be exposed.”The INDIA bloc’s protest is part of its broader “Save Democracy” campaign against the Election Commission. Opposition leaders have been holding demonstrations and public programmes over electoral roll-related issues.The march towards Nirvachan Sadan has further intensified the confrontation between the opposition and the poll panel over the SIR process and electoral roll revisions.