Vote Chori Biggest Anti-National Act: Rahul Slams Govt on EC Functioning

New Delhi: The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led government, accusing it of manipulating elections through the Election Commission of India (ECI) and weakening the democratic fabric of the country. Terming “vote chori” as the biggest act against the nation, Rahul Gandhi said the BJP-led government is indulging in destroying the idea of India.

"… Because when you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country, you destroy modern India, you destroy the idea of India," Rahul said.

Speaking during the discussion on Electoral Reforms in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi

led the Opposition’s attack on the government posed a few questions to it. “Why is the Chief Justice of India not part of the panel that picks up the Election Commissioners? Why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah so keen on who exactly the EC is going to be?” he asked. He further questioned why the law was changed to allow destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days and why no machine readable voter list is published.

He also questioned the government's decision to give immunity to Election Commissioners from any criminal charges. “No Prime Minister has done this in the history of India that in December 2023, this government changed the law to make sure no election commissioner is punished for any action they take while they are election commissioner. Why did the Prime Minister and the Home Minister give this gift of immunity," Rahul Gandhi asked.

"They (the Election Commissioners) are under the impression that this law will allow them to get away but that is not the case as we will change the law and do it retroactively," Rahul said.

The LoP also alleged that the consequence of these actions was that a set of election campaigns were tailored for the PM and "a Brazilian woman" appears 22 times on the voters' list of Haryana. “The election of Haryana was stolen and theft was ensured by the Election Commission of India. We have proved this in Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka how voter lists are manipulated and people registered as voters in Delhi go to other states to vote,” he said.

Rahul claimed that the ECI does not want to undertake poll reform as it was easy if it wanted to.

Making suggestions for reforms, Rahul said, "Have CJI in the selection panel for ECs. Give a machine readable voter list to all parties one month before elections. Take back the law that allows destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days. Tell us what is the architecture of EVMs, give us access to the EVMs. And, finally change the law that allows the election commissioners to get away with whatever he wants to do."

Earlier, initiating the debate, Congress MP Manish Tewari MP asserted that legally the EC has no "authority" to conduct SIR across the states and demanded immediate suspension of the process. He also questioned the functioning of the EVMs and the practice of Direct Cash Transfers before the elections. He suggested the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Chief Justice of India should be added in the selection panel. "If such a committee is formed then 'theek se khela hobega' and it will play an important role in removing the doubts over the Election Commission (EC)," Tewari said.

Taking up the cudgel against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav accused the Centre of carrying the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the garb of SIR. “If you are not accepting Aadhar then you are carrying out NRC, something that the government could not do openly is now doing through the SIR route. In Uttar Pradesh we heard the chief minister saying we are making detention centres. SIR is being used as NRC that is why sometimes they say “Guspaithyas” and sometimes they say detention centres are being made.”

The SP chief alleged that during the Rampur and Milkipur bypolls, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh used all its might, including police, to prevent genuine electors from casting their vote. When he and his party leaders approached the EC, the poll authority took no action, he claimed. He also alleged that thousands of voters were removed from the electoral rolls by the poll panel.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, supported the suggestion of Congress MP Manish Tewari that the composition of the committee, which elects the CEC and fellow ECs, should be tweaked to make it more participative and transparent. Yadav also suggested going back to ballot paper elections, saying even advanced countries, including Germany, do not use EVM. “Election reforms are of no use unless there are reforms within the Election Commission of India,” Yadav said.

Kalyan Banerjee of the TMC spoke of suicides being committed by the BLOs following tremendous pressure exerted on them by the ECIs. He described BJP as a party that dislikes Bengalis and trying to evict every Bengali out of the country.

Referring to the biometric registration exercise of Myanmar and Bangladeshi refugees in Mizoram, Banerjee said, “In Mizoram the government is registering them, but in Delhi and other places Bengalis are being arrested. They are called Rohingya…Ghuspaithya. Where is Rohingya coming from?” he questioned while accusing the government of failure to control border entries.

“What is the reason? Is Mizoram a favoured child of PM Narendra Modi? And in Delhi if someone speaks Bengali, he or she will be arrested. Why? Will you throw out all Bengalis from the country by calling them Rohingya?” Banerjee said.

He narrated the incident of Sonali Bibi, an Indian national who is a resident of West Bengal who was the pushed to Bangladesh by government agencies but had to be brought back on Supreme Court order.

Calling the SIR exercise arbitrary, Banerjee alleged that the ongoing SIR only aims to “delete” electors, and not authenticate them. “Why should an elector, whose name was there in 2024 (voter list), be told that he is not an elector because his name was not there in 2002? Deletion of voters would undermine the democratic process. What is the point of an election if you delete voters,” the Trinamool MP questioned, adding, “Now, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi decides through the Election Commission (EC) who will be a voter.”

Banerjee also criticised the ECI’s approach on the use of digital applications to verify family relationships in voter lists. He argued that the law does not define 'relative' in the rigid manner being applied. “Unless parents' names are there, they will not be treated as relatives. Will an app decide who will be my relative? My brother is not my relative, my wife is not my relative?” he asked, calling the exercise arbitrary.

Banerjee also claimed that the Prime Minister disrespected the legacy of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee by referring to him as "Bankim da."

Opening the debate for the BJP, Sanjay Jaiswal also said that despite the Opposition's claims that his party will benefit most from simultaneous polls, the reality is that it will possibly be the other way round. While BJP leaders work overtime during elections, Congress leaders believe in "tourism" and remain "absent" during actual campaigning, the BJP MP from Paschim Champaran, Bihar, said.

BJP’s Nishikant Dubey said, "All Opposition parties spoke about EVMs.... I want to tell the House that the EVMs were first introduced by the Congress. (Former prime minister) Rajiv Gandhi had brought EVMs as part of a pilot project in 1987 and then, in 1991, the Narasimha Rao government introduced the electronic machines for voting."