Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday termed Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar a “puppet” of the ruling BJP and called for his immediate removal from office.
“It is now common knowledge across the country that his persistent efforts have been aimed at benefiting the ruling party. Under these circumstances, he has no right to remain in office and should be removed immediately,” he added. “The Chief Election Commissioner has become a puppet of the Modi government. Even his own colleagues don’t trust the Chief Election Commissioner. The youth will ask questions and overthrow him.”
“Two Election Commissioners themselves have described the CEC’s actions as arbitrary and improper,” Kharge said, referring to The Indian Express expose last week that Election Commissioners – Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu – had on multiple occasions raised questions over the ongoing SIR exercise and the CEC’s decisions.
Kharge put forth five major demands at the CWC, noting that all data on changes in electoral rolls be made public, all voters whose names have been deleted should get a chance to appeal, and all political parties should be given electoral rolls in a simple format in time. Kharge alleged that voters’ names are being removed from electoral rolls and accused the Election Commission of acting in favour of the Modi government. The remarks came amid a political row over the EC and the SIR exercise, with Opposition parties raising questions over the functioning of the poll panel.
Kharge said Congress wants the Election Commission to remain independent and credible, so that both the ruling party and opposition can trust its decisions.
Maintaining that the Congress’s fight is not against any particular party, institution or individual, Kharge insisted that the party is fighting “for voters’ rights, the Constitution and the democratic system”.
