Congress demands India’s CEC resignation over ‘manipulation’ of voter rolls
Panaji : Congress general secretary K C Venugopal has demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, citing reported objections by two Election Commissioners over decisions concerning electoral rolls and the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
According to Kashmir Media Service, Venugopal made the demand while addressing Congress workers during the party’s ‘Goy Rakhonn Yatra’ in Cumbharjua constituency in Goa, saying a recent investigation had vindicated concerns earlier raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi about the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over a period of 10 months regarding decisions related to voter registration, deletion and restoration of names, changes to Form 6 and access to the electoral-roll database.
The two commissioners also raised concerns about what they described as the gradual centralisation of the electoral-roll database and questioned changes to the software and procedures governing access to voter information.
In one case, they objected to changes made to Form 6 for new voters, saying statutory forms could not be altered without changes to the relevant rules.
Venugopal alleged that the SIR exercise was undermining the electoral process and claimed that a large number of voters had been deleted from electoral rolls in Goa.
He cited the case of 38 Goa residents who, according to him, complained to the state election authorities after their names were deleted and whose reinstatement was recommended. Venugopal alleged that the Election Commission did not permit their names to be restored.
“Gyanesh Kumar should resign immediately to save the democracy of this country,” he said.
The Congress leader further alleged that the Election Commission’s handling of electoral rolls could enable manipulation at the central level and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the CEC of conspiring to “hijack the Indian election system”. These allegations were made by Venugopal and have not been established as facts.
