Congress Working Committee Demands CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Modi and Shah’s Resignation Over SIR
New Delhi: A day ahead of the INDIA alliance meeting, the Congress on Tuesday (September 29) demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah following the revelations of the Indian Express report last week that showed that two of three Election Commissioners questioned the conduct of the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) under Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
The Congress’ demand for Modi and Shah’s resignation came after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Tuesday, the highest decision making body in the party. The resolution adopted in the meeting demanded the immediate resignation of the CEC, suspension of the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls in several states, restoration of over 13 lakh names struck off voter lists and the resignation of the prime minister and the home minister.
"This brazen vote chori has been organised on behalf of the prime minister and the home minister. Nothing short of their resignation will ensure the safety of our constitution and hard earned democracy," the resolution said.
Following the meeting Congress MP and the party’s general secretary organisation K.C. Venugopal said that the matter would also be taken up at the INDIA alliance meeting on Wednesday (September 30), when the leaders will decide on a nationwide movement against vote theft.
“Tomorrow there is an INDIA alliance meeting, Congress certainly wants a massive agitation to save democracy in this country with the help of all political parties. There will be valuable suggestions from the INDIA alliance members after that we will formalise the clear action plan for future agitation," he said.
The CWC resolution said that it had had noted the concerns over the integrity of India's elections are being reduced to a "one-man show" with the CEC taking decisions without consultation with other Election Commissioners (ECs).
The Indian Express had last week reported that the two Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised as many as 14 objections to the SIR process including calling the changes to the Form 6 as "illegal".
"The unprecedented concentration of control over electoral rolls in the hands of a few BJP-backed officials during the nationwide SIR serves as the last nail in the coffin of the ECI's credibility," the CWC resolution said.
In his opening remarks to the CWC, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the fight now is "not against any party, institution, or individuals, but to save the rights of India's voters, the Constitution, and India's democratic system."
"The independence of the Election Commission is one of the first conditions for the security of democracy. But is it wrong to ask who took the decision of SIR? Is it wrong to ask why two Election Commissioners were kept out of the Internal Portal? Was something secretive going on?" he said.
Kharge said that the Congress demands that complete data on every major change in the voter list must be made public, voters whose names have been removed must be given full information and an opportunity to appeal, political parties must be provided with voter lists in a timely manner and wherever evidence of serious discrepancies comes to light, there must be an independent and time-bound investigation.
"We do not see this issue merely as a battle to win or lose an election. Elections come and go, governments come and go, but democracy and the Constitution are permanent. This is the foundation of Indian Democracy," he said.
For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.
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