‘Gyanesh Kumar should turn approver’: Rahul Gandhi reiterates demand for CEC’s resignation

‘Gyanesh Kumar should turn approver’: Rahul Gandhi reiterates demand for CEC’s resignation

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre, suggesting the CEC to resign and turn “approver” in the alleged “stealing” of votes.

This comes a day after a media report claimed differences within the poll panel regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and other issues. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has, however, rejected the report.

Addressing a press conference, Rahul Gandhi questioned the “absence of anti-incumbency” against the BJP.

He asserted that the anti-incumbency factor “spares no one”.

The LoP cited the example of former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi, saying that she too fell prey to “anti-incumbency” within one to two years of leading India to victory in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation war.

“Despite prevailing anti-incumbency for years, it suddenly disappears from Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,” Rahul Gandhi said, while terming it a “fundamental” question.

“This is an attack on the idea on the basic infrastructure on the expression of every single Indian,” the Congress leader alleged.

He reiterated his previous allegation that 2014 Lok Sabha elections and several other Assembly polls have been rigged.

“My questions were being ignored by India’s institutional framework,” he said.

The Leader of Opposition emphasised that “if the votes are stolen, any law being made by the Parliamentarians, who won on stolen votes, is illegal”.

“Any institutional changes they make is also illegal,” he added.

Rahul Gandhi referred to a law passed on December 21, 2023, that “makes the Election Commissioner immune to investigations” and also to the previous “vote chori’ allegations made by the Congress, including the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’.

Citing the claims of the media report, the LoP alleged that action was not taken on the letters sent by the two Election Commissioners, “because Gyanesh Kumar was being protected by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and others.”

Claiming that the Indian electoral system has been exposed, Rahul Gandhi claimed that there is enough material to prove it.

“This has never happened before in the history of independent India. Today elections are fundamentally broken and the laws that have been passed by the Parliament are open to question because the vote has been destroyed,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi also sought the immediate resignation of Gyanesh Kumar.

Directly addressing the CEC Gyanesh Kumar, the LoP said: “What you have done amounts to treason. It is an attack on the Constitution and the legal structure of the country…you were supposed to ensure that the vote is protected.”

“We are not going to let democracy be destroyed in India and sit in silence. People who are responsible for this are going to get punished someday or the other,” he asserted.

Rahul Gandhi appreciated the two ECs, saying they have done a “wise thing by coming clean”.

At the same time, the LoP advised Gyanesh Kumar to turn “approver”, saying that it would be an act of nationalism.

“The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and Home Minister Amit Shah are undoubtedly going to be investigated for what they have done…This is an act against the Indian State and its people. A person who attacks votes and fundamentally destroys India’s democratic institution is an anti-national, nothing else,” Rahul Gandhi remarked.

IANS