The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has supported the Congress and the Left parties’ demand for the removal of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the suspension of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, people familiar with the development said.
YSRCP leaders on Sunday attended an all-party meeting at Vijayawada, in which the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and other civil society groups took part and demanded a complete overhaul of the Election Commission of India, besides restoration of the names of 130 million voters which were allegedly deleted from the rolls.
Former MLA Malladi Vishnu, who attended the meeting on behalf of the YSRCP, alleged that the SIR had resulted in 32 lakh voters being deprived of their voting rights in Andhra Pradesh. “Our party will join the protests against the CEC on October 2,” he said.
Deep Dive
What are the specific demands made by the YSR Congress Party regarding the Election Commission's actions?
Why is there an ongoing dispute regarding the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in India?
How has the political landscape shifted in response to Gyanesh Kumar's actions as CEC?
On Friday, a delegation of senior CPI leaders called on Jagan Mohan Reddy at the party’s central office in Tadepalli and invited him to support the protests. The delegation, led by party state secretary G Eswaraiah and national executive member K Ramakrishna, also asked Jagan to join the opposition parties to launch a series of protests against the state government’s apathy towards farmers amid drought-conditions in the state.
Jagan took to X on Friday to express his thoughts on the issue. He said democracy can stand only when people have complete confidence in constitutional institutions such as the Election Commission.
{{/usCountry}}Jagan took to X on Friday to express his thoughts on the issue. He said democracy can stand only when people have complete confidence in constitutional institutions such as the Election Commission.
{{/usCountry}}“In a democracy, transparency should not only prevail but should also appear to have prevailed. The very bill (Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023) which had our support then, should be revisited now in the current background,” he said and called for the Centre to dispel fears around the issue.
“An amendment to the bill be brought forward where the election commissioner is appointed by the three member committee which has Leader of Opposition (LoP), Chief Justice of India (CJI) and the Prime Minister as members once again,” he said.”:
This is for the first time that Jagan has openly opposed any central policy. “All these days, Jagan had been claiming to maintain a neutral stand, but his party openly supported many of the decisions of the Narendra Modi government, including women’s reservation bill and delimitation bill,” political analyst Dolendra Prasad from Andhra Pradesh said.