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Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Monday hit back at Union Minister JP Nadda over his criticism of the Opposition's allegations against the Election Commission, asserting that Rahul Gandhi's claims about the poll panel had been established by the objections raised by two Election Commissioners.
Speaking to ANI, Venugopal was responding to Nadda's remarks that the EC had exposed the Opposition's lies and that repeating a falsehood multiple times did not make it true. Rahul Gandhi doesn't tell any lie. He tells the truth only. That has been established now by two Election Commissioners, not by Congress leaders," he said. He further targeted Nadda over his defence of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Whatever Rahul Gandhi is saying about the Chief Election Commissioner has now become truth. Nadda is actually trying to whitewash Gyanesh Kumar. I don't know why he is doing all these things. Nobody in this country is going to believe his words. These people are killing the democracy. You people ask them, not us. We are trying to protect the democracy of this country, he said. He also defended Congress' decision to hold protests across the country, calling them a reaction to what he described as the EC's actions. This is a natural reaction from the people of this country against the CEC and his anti-Constitutional, illegal activities to destroy democracy. See the way in which the CEC bypassed the two Election Commissioners' observations. This makes it clear that the CEC was conspiring with the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to sabotage Indian democracy, he said. Now they are correcting the SIR Form 6. They themselves agreed that they are guilty, he added. Venugopal further said that Congress workers were holding protests at more than 1,000 locations across the country on Monday. "People are agitating all over India. Today, at more than 1000 places, District Congress Committee workers are agitating. We had a meeting yesterday with all DCC presidents," he said. He said the issue had generated anger among people, alleging that questions had been raised over the conduct of elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Bihar. "There is a general emotion that the 2024 election was a 'chori election', so were the Haryana election, Maharashtra election and Bihar election," Venugopal said. The Congress leader also said the party's next course of action would be discussed at its upcoming meetings. The Congress Working Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss the EC issue, while an INDIA bloc meeting is on September 30. On SP chief Akhilesh Yadav skipping the INDIA bloc meeting, Venugopal said Yadav had a prior engagement related to Rajya Sabha election nominations. Well, that Rajya Sabha election nomination is there. That's what he told the Congress president. Senior leaders from his party, all other seniors are coming. And we will decide what the next course of action is in the meeting, he said. Venugopal's remarks came amid an escalating political row over the EC and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Earlier in the day, Nadda accused the Opposition of misleading the public and attempting to create confusion over the EC. Now, the Election Commission has exposed all the lies, Nadda said, adding that Rahul Gandhi and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal make allegations and walk away without concern for public interest. Nadda also said that repeating a lie multiple times did not make it true. Rahul Gandhi, listen carefullyrepeating a lie a hundred times does not make it the truth, and the truth can never be defeated, he said. He accused Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee, of increasingly focusing their politics on questioning constitutional and autonomous institutions. Make allegations, spread confusion, disturb the atmosphere in the country and then run awaythis has become their way of functioning, Nadda said. The Union Minister said the BJP viewed power as a means to serve the interests of the country's citizens and accused the Opposition of pursuing dynastic politics and its own interests. Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that he was propagating the BJP's philosophy. Opposition parties including the Congress, CPI, CPI(M), Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) have also called for Kumar's resignation. The row intensified after an Indian Express report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over a period of 10 months on decisions and orders related to the SIR process and other electoral matters. The reported disagreements included issues concerning Form 6, voter deletions and access to electoral-roll databases. The Election Commission, however, rejected the suggestion that the objections amounted to institutional dissent over final decisions. The poll panel said operational queries, inputs and suggestions raised during the draft stage were part of its standard administrative and decision-making process. The Commission maintained that all decisions, including those related to SIR, were unanimous and had the approval of all three commissioners. (ANI)
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