Kharge seeks 'puppet' CEC Gyanesh Kumar's removal, PM's resignation amid ECI row; Congress lists key demands

Equating the deletion of names from electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive to “vote-demonetisation,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday called for removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over irregularities and issued a five-point list of demands to ensure transparency in the election process.

Kharge also demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must resign on moral grounds for “pressuring” the CEC.

Presiding over the Congress Working Committee meeting in the national Capital on Tuesday, Kharge also demanded that voters whose names have been removed must be fully informed and given an opportunity to appeal. Political parties, he added, must be provided with the electoral rolls and relevant data in a simple format in a timely manner.

The Congress’s sharp attacks on the Gyanesh Kumar-led ECI comes against the backdrop of the SIR process that has led to the deletion of nearly 130 million people. The Opposition has escalated the offensive after a report in the Indian Express claimed that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders of the ECI, including on additions, deletion and restoration of voters and changes to the voter registration process.

Kharge also sought transparency in the critical data and decisions related to the election process so that no party felt that information was being withheld.

In his opening speech, Kharge launched a vitriolic attack against both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, calling him the “puppet” of the ruling dispensation.

“History bears witness that ten years ago, this very Prime Minister devastated India’s economy with the decision of “demonetisation.” And now, ten years later, he is destroying our robust democracy through a conspiracy of “vote-demonetisation” (disenfranchisement),” Kharge said.

“The poor bear the brunt of all his flawed policies. During demonetisation, the poor stood in queues; with this move to disenfranchise voters, the poor are being pushed out of the queue altogether. I know that the poor possess only one source of power: their vote. We will not let that be snatched away under any circumstances,” the Congress president said.

Kharge said the vote was the greatest weapon for the poor, Dalits, the deprived, and the exploited sections of society. That’s why “Modi ji wants to snatch away this right, but we will not allow it to happen.”

With the CEC leading the exercise to disenfranchise the poor, Kharge said “the protector has turned into the predator”.

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“The very entity empowered by the Constitution—tasked with being the guardian of the people’s vote—has become a plunderer of votes. How can the nation place its trust in a Chief Election Commissioner whom even his own colleagues do not trust?” he said.

The CWC meeting comes ahead of the Opposition’s big meeting on Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday that will decide the next course of political action against the CEC.

Recalling former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s decision to reduce the voting age from 21 to 18, Kharge said, “In contrast, we have Prime Minister Modi, who is so resentful of Gen Z that he has hatched a conspiracy to disenfranchise the youth. He quietly altered the rules regarding ‘Form 6’. This is entirely illegal.”

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“They failed to provide jobs, and now they seek to deny the right to vote as well. They are gripped by the fear that the youth will ask questions and eventually oust them from power. However, this right was not granted as an act of charity; millions have made sacrifices for it. No matter how many conspiracies people like Modi and Shah may hatch, the Congress will not let them succeed. Democracy and the right to vote are our legacy—nurtured by our blood and sweat. We will not allow any dictator to destroy it,” Kharge added.

The Congress president also lauded Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for bringing the issue of “vote chori” (vote theft) to the forefront, asserting that the party’s critiques were aimed at restoring institutional credibility. “Our questions are not intended to weaken these institutions; rather, we want the Election Commission to be so strong and credible that both the ruling party and the opposition place equal trust in its decisions,” he added.