Guwahati: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of “hijacking” the electoral process through alleged “vote chori”, and said those responsible would be held accountable.
Gandhi was speaking to reporters after an INDIA bloc march from Parliament towards the Election Commission was stopped by Delhi Police. The Opposition MPs were demanding Kumar’s resignation over their concerns about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“Why is the CEC not meeting us? Why are they stopping us? We represent the people,” Gandhi said, questioning the police action against the protesters.
He alleged that Kumar had helped Modi, Shah and Bhagwat “hijack” elections and accused them of having destroyed democracy.
“What has been done to the country is treason. Be it the Prime Minister, Amit Shah, Mohan Bhagwat or Gyanesh Kumar, none of them will be spared,” Gandhi said.
He also questioned the deployment of police to stop the march, saying, “Why is Delhi Police threatening us? We MPs represent the people.”
The INDIA bloc MPs marched from the Parliament complex towards the Election Commission headquarters, but were stopped near the NITI Aayog office. Several Opposition leaders then sat on the road in protest, demanding Kumar’s resignation.
Gandhi, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Opposition leaders later attempted to reach the Election Commission office through the Akashvani Bhawan premises, while several leaders were detained by police.
The protest comes amid the Opposition’s campaign against the Election Commission’s SIR exercise and allegations of irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.
The controversy intensified after the Supreme Court on Monday clarified that it had not approved any modification to Form 6, used for voter enrolment during the SIR exercise, and sought responses from the Election Commission and the Centre on a plea challenging alleged decisions taken by the poll panel without the approval of its other two members.
The Election Commission has rejected allegations that Form 6 was illegally changed, saying the statutory form itself had not been altered and that an additional declaration was used as part of the SIR process. The Commission has also maintained that decisions concerning the Bihar SIR were taken unanimously.