New Delhi, Aug 18: Opposition parties on Monday accused the Election Commission of failing to discharge its constitutional duty of ensuring a free and fair electoral system, and did not rule out moving an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, whom they alleged was acting like a “BJP spokesperson”.
Addressing a press conference here, representatives of eight prominent parties — Congress, TMC, SP, DMK, RJD, CPI(M), AAP and SS-UBT — said the CEC had “failed” to answer their questions on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and issues related to voter list irregularities and chose to attack them at his presser on Sunday.
The EC has “completely failed” in discharging its constitutional duty of ensuring a free and fair electoral system in the country. It has now become clear that the EC is not being led by officers who can ensure a level playing field, a joint statement on behalf of 20 opposition political parties alleged.
“The right to vote is the most important right given by the Constitution to a common citizen. Democracy depends on it. EC is the body meant to protect it… But we can see that the CEC did not reply to the important questions being raised by the political parties, and is running away from its responsibility,” Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said at the press conference.
TMC’s Mahua Moitra echoed the demand of some other opposition leaders that the Lok Sabha should be dissolved as the last elections were held on “faulty” voter list.
CPI-M leader John Brittas said the opposition parties firmly believe that the CEC has “forfeited the right to be in that constitutional position and has declared war on opposition parties by holding a press conference”.
Asked how serious they are in moving a motion in Parliament to remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Gogoi said, “The issue has been discussed and to a great extent an agreement has been reached. We will take the right decision at the right time.”
RJD’s Manoj Jha said, “All parliamentary and legal options are open before us, and will be used.”
The procedure for removing the CEC is the same as that for removing a Supreme Court or High Court judge. As per law, the CEC can be removed only by Parliament. The Constitution says a motion supported by 50 MPs of the Rajya Sabha or 100 MPs of the Lok Sabha has to be moved in Parliament and passed by the House with a two-thirds majority of those present and voting.
The statement by opposition parties claimed that it is now clear that those who lead the EC “divert and thwart any attempt at a meaningful inquiry into voter fraud and instead opt to intimidate those who challenge the ruling party. This is a serious indictment”.
It also said that “the CEC offered no comment or clarification on why the Bihar SIR was being conducted in such a hasty, ill-prepared and ad-hoc manner”.
The CEC offered no comments on allegations of voter fraud levelled by Rahul Gandhi, the joint statement claimed, adding, “The CEC refused to answer any hard questions with regard to why no inquiry or investigation had taken place on the allegations of voter fraud.”
Congress MP Naseer Hussain alleged that autonomous constitutional bodies are being “usurped” by the government to mislead people. He also demanded that a discussion on SIR and EC be allowed in both houses of Parliament, which the government is so far “stone-walling”.
Gogoi said while the Election Commission is the protector of the right to vote and is a vital constitutional institution, it is unable to provide satisfactory answers to many important questions raised by political parties, he said.
“Instead, it appears to be avoiding its responsibility and trying to run away from accountability,” he claimed.
SP’s Ramgopal Yadav noted that the EC has repeatedly said that the allegations being made by the opposition parties should be submitted through an affidavit.
“In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls, when Akhilesh Yadav said that a large number of votes of Samajwadi Party supporters had been deleted, the Election Commission issued a notice asking him to clarify this.
“In response, 18,000 affidavits were submitted to the Election Commission, all with proper receipts. You will be surprised to know that not a single action has been taken on any of those affidavits till today,” Yadav claimed.
DMK’s Tiruchi Siva asked why the ruling party was “blocking” Parliamentary discussion over the “haste” in conducting SIR.
“We will resort to all legal remedies to solve issues of SIR, the voting right of all Indians,” he said.
TMC’s Moitra asked how it was possible that the names of “dead people were on the draft electoral roll and of the living people on the deleted list”. “It can only happen because the BLOs were signing the form themselves…,” she alleged.
“It is not the job of the Chief Election Commissioners to attack the opposition. Your job, sir, is to go into great detail on the valid queries raised by the Opposition”, Moitra said at the press conference at the Constitution Club.
Brittas said that “an imperfect voter list compromises the fairness and integrity of democratic discourse”.
“From the beginning, the government had an ulterior motive to make EC the ‘B team’ of the government. That is why they brought a law to circumvent the judgment of a five-member Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court,” the CPI(M) leader said and alleged that the EC is “biased, selective, and unfair”.
“We feel that there is a design, a diabolical game to adulterate the voter list from Kerala to Kashmir. The lone seat BJP won in Kerala is through unfair means,” the CPI-M leader alleged, adding that this has created a situation wherein “we have no other option but to ensure there is a protest”.
AAP’s Sanjay Singh said after listening to CEC Gyanesh Kumar, “I felt his real name should be ‘Agyanesh’ Kumar. He spoke only of ignorance… We were shocked to hear such foolish remarks. He did not answer a single question put to him.”
“You say this is a ‘Special Intensive Revision (SIR)’. Yet, in this revision, not a single vote was added. What kind of SIR is this? You said 22 lakh people had died, and their names were removed. Within a month, you demanded all kinds of documents from people in Bihar at a time when large areas are reeling under floods,” he said.
Singh demanded that the EC order an inquiry into allegations levelled by the opposition parties. “As long as you don’t do it, your impartiality will be in question.”
RJD leader Manoj Jha said, “You would have never seen the entire Opposition holding a press conference against the Election Commission. During yesterday’s briefing, the Election Commission did not clarify our concerns. The press conference was deliberately held on Sunday to divert attention from Rahul ji and Tejashwi ji’s yatra in Sasaram, Bihar.”
Shiv Sena-UBT leader Arvind Sawant said their party suffered the most, as in the Lok Sabha election, most of the MVA MPs won, but in the assembly polls, just after five months, their candidates lost.
“We asked for CCTV footage. Yesterday, our CEC said we are not able to give it because the privacy of women would be in question,” he said.
“The Constitution has given us the right to vote. They are trying to take it away. Not just political parties, people need to see how they (BJP) are coming to power,” he said.
