Mumbai, Oct 25: The Congress on Sunday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of violating rules during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, alleging that the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance had come to power in Maharashtra through electoral irregularities.
Addressing a press conference as part of the party's 'Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao' campaign here, Congress leader C P Joshi and Mumbai unit chief Varsha Gaikwad targeted the CEC, alleging unauthorised changes to voter forms and suspicious additions — including 40 lakh voters in Maharashtra in just five months — ahead of the state assembly elections.
Joshi demanded that the Election Commission make public the minutes of its meetings, legal approvals and details of voters whose names had been deleted.
He alleged that changes had been made to Forms 6, 7 and 8 in violation of rules, and claimed that the powers of electoral registration officers (EROs) had been taken away and given to Information Technology Director General Seema Khanna.
He also raised questions about the transparency and legality of the SIR exercise and decision-making in the Election Commission, citing objections reportedly raised by two election commissioners.
Nearly 47 lakh names had been deleted from electoral rolls in Bihar and more than 90 lakh in West Bengal, he alleged, and claimed that similar irregularities had taken place in Maharashtra.
He stated that the Centre's changes to the law governing the appointment of the CEC and other election commissioners had altered the composition of the selection committee by replacing the Chief Justice of India with a Union minister nominated by the Prime Minister.
Gaikwad alleged that around 40 lakh voters had been added to Maharashtra's electoral rolls within five to six months between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
About 400 voters had been added at each polling booth, she claimed, alleging that lakhs of voters had now been excluded from the electoral rolls in Mumbai under the SIR exercise.
The BJP-led Mahayuti had come to power in Maharashtra through electoral irregularities, she alleged, and said that the Congress had launched a nationwide campaign to protect democracy and the Constitution.
As part of the campaign, the INDIA bloc has planned a rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on November 1, she said.
The opposition has been demanding CEC Kumar’s ouster following a news report last month that Election Commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on record at least 14 times over the previous 10 months on decisions relating to voter registration, deletion and restoration of names and the SIR exercise.
The Election Commission subsequently said decisions relating to the SIR had received unanimous approval of all three commissioners and announced measures to assist voters facing notices during the revision.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and auto-generated from an agency feed.)
