Opposition parties on Wednesday demanded that paper ballots replace electronic voting machines (EVMs) and announced a five-point programme targeting the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The INDIA bloc accused the CEC and the government of manipulating voter rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise to subvert electoral integrity.
“Everyone has decided to fight together in a united manner,” declared Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge after a three-and-a-half-hour strategy session. He confirmed that all participating leaders “100% agreed that instead of EVMs, paper ballots should be used”. He also called for reversing recent election law amendments. A Congress leader said it was a reference to the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants legal immunity to the CEC and Election Commissioners.
“Modi and Shah are treating the Election Commission of India as their puppet. They are winning elections by deceit,” Kharge said, comparing the SIR deletions to the 2016 high-value currency ban. “First, Modi did notebandi; now he is doing votebandi to rob citizens of their rights.”
To be sure, HT’s analysis of SIR deletions by constituency has shown no correlation with the outcome; and some of the deletions have been caused by death and migration. But the exclusion of millions of voters from draft rolls — in Delhi, 33% of the UT’s 14.5 million voters were excluded— has resulted in public angst and anxiety. Revelations by the Indian Express last week that two election commissioners disagreed with some of the decisions, and that the central database of electors wasn’t accessible to on-ground officers tasked with adding and deleting names have caused a stir. The Election Commission has since clarified that all decisions have been unanimous, based on the majority, and also modified the SIR process to reduce the inconvenience to voters.
{{/usCountry}}To be sure, HT’s analysis of SIR deletions by constituency has shown no correlation with the outcome; and some of the deletions have been caused by death and migration. But the exclusion of millions of voters from draft rolls — in Delhi, 33% of the UT’s 14.5 million voters were excluded— has resulted in public angst and anxiety. Revelations by the Indian Express last week that two election commissioners disagreed with some of the decisions, and that the central database of electors wasn’t accessible to on-ground officers tasked with adding and deleting names have caused a stir. The Election Commission has since clarified that all decisions have been unanimous, based on the majority, and also modified the SIR process to reduce the inconvenience to voters.
{{/usCountry}}As part of the five-point programme, Kharge said the INDIA bloc leaders would organise “Save Democracy” marches throughout the country from October 2 to 8 with the involvement of the general public, youth and “everyone who believe in democracy and unity”.
Opposition MPs would march to the Election Commission on October 6.
“Leaders of Opposition also will seek appointment from President of India to give a representation on our problems and against the chori ki sarkar (govt with a stolen mandate),” Kharge added.
On October 6, all MPs will march to Election Commission. Kharge said both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members will participate and all parties will be invited to join the march.
There will be a five big rallies to reach out to the people including one in Delhi on November 1. The Opposition will also write to the judiciary to expedite the cases related to SIR and electoral malpractices.
Kharge lauded party leader Rahul Gandhi for his campaign against vote chori, saying people earlier didn’t believe the point but now everyone realised that he was right.
The Congress president also compared the SIR of electoral rolls with the government’s demonitisation decision in 2016, reiterating a point that he had made at Tuesday’s Congress Working Committee meeting as well.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said all parties agreed that PM Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and CEC Gyanesh Kumar had assaulted Indian democracy. He said the Opposition had been successful in putting across the concern about manipulation of elections and promised changes.
“The Opposition leaders are colective defenders. We will make serious changes in the country,” Gandhi added.
Mamata Banerjee said Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav were the first ones to speak about vote chori, a reference to the rally addressed by the two leaders in Bihar last year. “Vanish (Gyanesh) Kumar chor hai, daaku hai. He should resign immediately. Let us save democracy and let the security of voting right be restored. If votes are stolen, then how can country run,” Banerjee asked. Later, Sonia Gandhi could be seen praising Mamata for her fiery speech.
She also questioned the software used by the Election Commission, ERONET, that processes enumeration forms and attempts to match a current elector with a corresponding entry in the base rolls, and said Opposition is ready to fight against Modi.
According to Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, People’s Democratic Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, Indian Union Muslim League, Kerala Congress (Mani), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Kerala Congress (Jacob), and the All India Forward Bloc participated in the meeting.