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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday alleged that the government was stripping people of their rights and accused the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of acting at its behest during the INDIA bloc march against CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
Kharge said the universal adult franchise secured after Independence was being undermined and alleged that the Election Commission was functioning under the government's direction. "Look, we are fighting against the injustice of the fact that the government is stripping away everythingall the rights of the people. And today, the universal adult franchise that we received after Independencethis government is working to finish it off," Kharge said. He alleged that the CEC was "merely a puppet of the government" and claimed that 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. He also alleged that citizens were being pushed into "subjugation" and said the INDIA alliance would continue its campaign against what he described as injustice. "And through this, the entire citizenry will be pushed into subjugation. The people who achieved freedom are once again being forced into slavery," Kharge said. "That is why all of usthe leaders of the INDIA allianceare fighting, and we will continue to fight. We will achieve our goal, and we will ensure this for all of you," he added. Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also alleged that the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise was disenfranchising citizens and demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign, raising questions over changes 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 the Supreme Court had taken cognizance of the issue and identified Forms 6 and 7 as two major concerns with the SIR exercise. According to Chidambaram, Form 6, which is used to enrol first-time voters, contains questions about whether the 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. Questioning the decision-making process, Chidambaram asked whether the Election Commission had taken the decision 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 said it was intended to report voters who had died or moved away and alleged that it was instead 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 further alleged that if the electoral roll was flawed, the election result based on it would also lack validity. "So, the Election Commission must immediately reform itself, and the Chief Election Commissioner must resign forthwith," he said. Responding to a question on BJP leader Sambit Patra's allegation that the Congress was unnecessarily attacking the Election Commission and would attempt to create an atmosphere of anarchy, Chidambaram said concerns over the SIR were not limited to the Congress. "Is it only our voice? There are sitting Supreme Court judges, there is a former Supreme Court judge, civil society, former bureaucrats, and youth who are raising the question. It is not only the Congress party; all political parties are raising this question," he said. "This is a fundamental question. Our democracy is at peril, because if we do not have an electoral roll with integrity, then the result of that election lacks integrity and lacks sanction," he added. This comes as the opposition INDIA bloc on Tuesday hit the streets of the national capital as their protest march towards the Election Commission, raising slogans demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Leaders of several INDIA bloc parties will participate in the march and raise their concerns before the Election Commission (EC). The protest is part of a broader "Save Democracy" campaign announced by the Opposition, under which its leaders have been holding demonstrations and public programmes against the EC. The march to Nirvachan Sadan is expected to further intensify the political confrontation between the Opposition and the poll panel over electoral roll-related issues. (ANI)
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