Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday asserted that the Opposition would not stop its protests against the SIR exercise until Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar resigned or Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed him. Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal accused the Prime Minister and Union home minister Amit Shah of pressuring the Delhi police to obstruct the Opposition’s October 30 “public impeachment of the CEC” ahead of the November 1 rally.
Speaking at a “Jan Sunwai” event in Trilokpuri in the national capital, Gandhi claimed that names of 416 voters were “illegally” removed under the SIR in the area. “We have seen here that in four booths 416 voters have been illegally removed. We have raised questions with the Chief Election Commissioner, but he refuses to answer and hides. But we will not stop,” he said.
“The Opposition will continue its fight until Gyanesh Kumar resigns or Prime Minister Narendra Modi removes him. Crores of people across India are being deprived of their right to vote,” Gandhi said during the “public hearing” of grievances over the electoral process. He was accompanied by CPI(ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya and Swaraj India’s Yogendra Yadav.
The Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition claimed that the party has been raising this issue for a long time, but now the entire country is beginning to understand that “votes are being stolen at the highest level”.
“Poor people are being removed from the electoral rolls, and their rights are being snatched,” he alleged.
“Why is this happening? An attempt is being made to create a new India belonging to a select group of billionaires, where citizens have no rights and the poor are denied their rights, leaving a country that serves only the interests of billionaires,” Mr Gandhi alleged, adding, “Modi is hell-bent on creating a Hindustan only for the rich.” The Congress leader said voting is the right of every Indian citizen, but today, the rights of millions of people are being snatched away. “We have been raising this issue for quite some time, but now the entire country is realising that vote theft is happening from the top level.” He also alleged earlier that Mr Kumar is carrying out vote theft by fraudulently removing people’s names from voter lists, which amounted to treason.
Separately, Venugopal alleged that despite securing official venue approval for Delhi’s iconic Ramlila Maidan from October 25 to November 3, police intervention halted ground preparation work over the weekend.
Speaking to the media in New Delhi, Venugopal asserted that the sudden police action is not an independent administrative call but a directive straight from the top levels of the Union government.
“We announced the public impeachment of the CEC. We planned a march on November 1. We have booked Ramlila Maidan from October 25 to November 3. They have already granted us permission from October 25 to November 3. We decided to conduct the public impeachment here, but when our people came to construct the infrastructure, the police stopped them. We have not been informed about the reasons,” Venugopal said.
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