The Opposition’s massive campaign to seek the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and corner the BJP in the process, will not be yielded to and will be countered firmly with facts, sources from the party have told NDTV.
Party leaders revealed that a decision has been taken to directly address the allegations raised against the Commission. In response to Opposition parties targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah using the issue, the BJP has rolled out a counter-campaign. A BJP leader remarked that if opposition parties are linking the BJP’s performance in Bihar and West Bengal to the SIR, how do they explain the election results in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where the Congress and the TVK emerged victorious following the exercise? Party insiders did acknowledge, however, that all is not well within the Election Commission. Rather, they appear to be part of a broader effort to exert institutional pressure.
Key functionaries stepped in to provide detailed responses because, as a constitutional body, the Chief Election Commissioner and other officials do not typically issue direct statements to the media. On Saturday, the party’s official handle on X provided a point-by-point rebuttal to the opposition’s allegations regarding Form 6, which is used to register new voters. “Know the full truth behind the confusion being spread regarding Form 6… The Opposition, including Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, is constantly spreading lies about the changes to Form 6. The mandatory declaration required during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process has been integrated into the Form 6 procedure to simplify things for voters, sparing them from having to go through multiple separate steps,” the BJP’s handle wrote in Hindi. Internal differences came to light after the Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded serious written objections regarding the SIR process 14 times in 10 months.
Pointing a finger at the Opposition, BJP leaders said the claims surrounding the SIR, the pressure exerted on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and the attempts to drag the Supreme Court into the controversy are not isolated incidents.
