Congress demands CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, overhaul of ECI’s IT system
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New Delhi: Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday stepped up his party’s attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that it had withheld searchable electoral rolls from political parties for eight years and accusing it of enabling what the Opposition calls “vote chori”.
In a post on X, Ramesh claimed that the Congress and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had been pressing for searchable voter lists for the past two years, but the Commission had repeatedly turned down the request.
He alleged that the ECI stopped providing searchable rolls in 2018 after the Congress claimed to have found lakhs of bogus voters in Madhya Pradesh. According to him, the refusal continued for eight years.
Ramesh said the ECI’s October 15 order allowing parties to access electoral rolls in searchable format for the Special Summary Revision (SSR) came only after sustained public and political pressure. The SSR has resumed after a gap of two years in 17 states and Union Territories.
“This is because the whole nation is on the streets against the Vote Chors,” the Congress leader alleged.
He further claimed that the government and the poll body changed tactics whenever allegations of electoral irregularities were raised. “Every time Vote Chori is caught, the Modi Govt adopts a new tactic: stopping readable voter rolls, fake voter additions, SIR. But not this time,” Ramesh said.
The Congress leader demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and called for a complete overhaul of the Commission and its information technology system.
“Nothing can save the CEC Gyanesh Kumar who, acting on the instructions of the PM and the HM, has destroyed public trust and confidence in the ECI. He simply has to go. But that alone will not be enough. The ECI itself along with its IT system has to be thoroughly revamped. The SIR, that has put the Constitutional right to vote for over 13 crore Indians at risk, has to be suspended forthwith,” Ramesh said.
The Congress and several other Opposition parties have been protesting against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that it could affect the voting rights of eligible citizens. The Election Commission, however, maintains that the exercise is meant to update and clean the electoral rolls.
The dispute has also led to Opposition demonstrations against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, with the INDIA bloc demanding his resignation.
(Inputs from IANS)