Addressing the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, Kharge said Kumar “has no right to remain in office”. He also said the Prime Minister should himself resign on moral grounds. “The entire nation is now aware that the CEC’s consistent efforts have been aimed at benefiting the ruling party,” he said.
Also read: CWC meets on SIR row, to prepare roadmap for ramping up pressure on CEC, govt
Attacking the Centre, Kharge said the Modi government had “systematically hollowed out the strong democratic foundation that our forefathers built”.
He alleged that names were being removed from voter lists “as part of a conspiracy” and that the Prime Minister had hatched a plan to disenfranchise the youth, claiming the rules regarding Form 6, used for enrolling new voters, had been “altered illegally”.
Kharge’s demands
Kharge laid out a set of demands on transparency in the poll process:
- Political parties must be given electoral rolls and relevant data in a simple format and in a timely manner.
- An independent, time-bound inquiry must be conducted wherever evidence of serious discrepancies emerges.
- Complete data on every major change made to the electoral rolls must be made public.
- Voters whose names have been removed must be fully informed and given an opportunity to appeal.
- Critical data and decisions related to the poll process must be made transparent so that no party has grounds to claim information is being withheld.
The meeting was chaired by Kharge and attended by former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal, among others. It was called to chalk out a roadmap for stepping up pressure on Kumar and the government in the wake of reported “differences” within the Election Commission and alleged irregularities in the SIR.
What led to the CWC meeting?
A day before the meeting, Kharge said the Election Commissioners had “exposed” the working within the poll body by raising concerns over the SIR and changes in Form 6, besides additions and deletions in voter lists and centralised control over the electoral roll database.
He had described the issue as very serious, one that concerns the survival of democracy and has to be taken up on priority. “We are going to fight this seriously. This issue concerns the entire country, the existence of our democracy and the survival of our country. That is why we are very serious about this issue,” he had said.
Also read: CJP will not back down till CEC Gyanesh Kumar resigns: Ashutosh Ranka
On Monday, the Congress said the first step in the long road to reclaiming the country’s democracy was the resignation of the CEC, whom it described as a front for the “diabolical PM-HM duo” and an affront to the Constitution.
The party also said the EC’s proposed measures on the SIR were an admission that the exercise had been a “disaster”, and that the “piecemeal” steps for deleted or at-risk voters would do little to mitigate “mass disenfranchisement”.
After its first meeting following reports of differences between Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, the poll panel said in a statement that the letters the two Commissioners sent to the Cabinet Secretary pertained to an officer on deputation, and not to policy or IT division matters.
The EC has also asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution, and that all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
The opposition INDIA bloc will meet on Wednesday to work out a joint strategy on the issue and is likely to file another notice for Kumar’s removal in Parliament.
(With inputs from PTI)
