Sparks fly in Lok Sabha over debate on polls, SIR

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that election reforms could take place only if EC was impartial

The National Democratic Alliance and the INDIA bloc exchanged barbs over electoral reforms and the special intensive revision in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday with the government accusing the Congress of trying to hide its poll failures and the Opposition alleging that the ruling party was indulging in vote theft.

In his 20-minute speech, Gandhi alleged that the BJP and RSS had captured India’s institutions.”The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote ‘chori’. (ANI)

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said vote theft was the biggest anti-national act as it destroyed the fabric of the nation and the Election Commission was colluding with those in power to shape elections, demanding that machine-readable voter lists be given to political parties and immunity to election commissioners scrapped.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that election reforms could take place only if EC was impartial and suggested that an enhanced panel select the chief election commissioner and fellow election commissioners.

From the government, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal hit out at the Opposition, saying that the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters’ list was held multiple times since 1952 and was required to clean up electoral rolls, which change due to migration and rapid urbanisation.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey hit out at Gandhi over his attack on EVMs, saying the voting machines were introduced in the country by his father and former PM Rajiv Gandhi, during a pilot project in 1987.

The debate came after days of standoff between the government and the Opposition over a discussion on electoral reforms and especially SIR, which led to disruptions in the first week of the current session. It also came amid a nationwide political storm over the SIR process currently underway in 12 states and Union Territories. The previous SIR process in Bihar led to the deletion of 6.9 million names and the addition of 2.15 million.

In his 20-minute speech, Gandhi alleged that the BJP and RSS had captured India’s institutions.”The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote ‘chori’. Because when you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country, you destroy modern India, you destroy the idea of India. Those across the aisle are doing an anti-national act,” Gandhi said, gesturing towards the treasury benches.

Gandhi called for providing machine readable voter lists to all parties one month before elections, taking back the law that allows destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days, giving access to electronic voting machines, and changing the law that allows the election commissioners “to get away with whatever they want to do”. “What is the result of controlling the CEC and the ECs? We have tailored the campaign schedule for months to fit the PM’s schedule. We have a Brazilian woman who appears 22 times in the voter list of Haryana. One woman appeared 200 times in one booth. The election of Haryana was stolen and the theft was ensured by EC. EC has not told me why this lady’s picture appears in the voter list.Why were there lakhs of bogus voters and why were BJP leaders from UP coming to vote in Haryana? These are proof I put before the country but EC did not reply,” Gandhi said, repeating earlier allegations of voter list manipulations in assembly elections last year in Haryana and Maharashtra, both won by the NDA.

He argued that even after the SIR, there were 120,000 duplicate photos in the Bihar voter list and said that he has “proven” similar dubious acts in Haryana and Maharashtra. “I am absolutely certain this is how you are winning elections in the country. That’s why the government doesn’t want to do electoral reforms,” Gandhi said.

Gandhi, who had earlier campaigned in Bihar on vote theft, said the BJP and RSS had manipulated the process of appointment of vice-chancellors in universities and alleged that federal agencies and the poll body had been similarly “captured”.

“Why is it that the CJI was removed from the selection panel for (appointing) the election commissioners? What motivation could there be to remove the CJI? Do we not believe in the CJI? Of course, we believe in the CJI. Why is he not in that room?” he said.

“I sit in that room. It is a so-called democratic decision. On one side, there is Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah. On the other side, the leader of the Opposition. I have no voice in that room. What they decide is what happens…so, why are the prime minister and home minister so keen on choosing exactly who the election commissioner is going to be,” Gandhi asked

Countering Gandhi, Meghwal said that SIR of the voters’ list has been done multiple times since 1952 to clean up electoral rolls and to address change due to migration and rapid urbanisation.

“Between 1952 to 2002, SIR was conducted multiple times. When SIR happened during your tenure, it was a correct decision. But when SIR was conducted during our regime, you call it a conspiracy,” he said and added that the Congress sees deficiencies in EVM and SIR but ignores its own shortcomings. Congress leader Manish Tewari, who initiated the debate, argued that there is no legal provision to conduct SIR. He demanded that the 3-member committee to select top poll officers should be expanded to include Chief Justice of India and the Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition.

Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee said EC’s powers cannot override the authority of Parliament. “What is the object of voter list revision? The object is inclusion. SIR defeats the objective and wants to delete electors,” Banerjee said.