New Delhi, 23 September—Launching a scathing attack on country’s elecroral body, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi today not only renewed his “vote chori” charge against the BJP, RSS and Election Commission but went all out alleging that the manipulation of electoral rolls a direct attack on the Constitution while underlining that those who organised it had committed “an act of treason”.
Gandhi’s remarks came hours after a report in the Indian Express said that two of the three Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had formally raised questions and objections over decisions related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“Vote chori is a crime against the Indian people and a direct attack on our Constitution,” Rahul said. “The BJP, RSS and EC who organised it have committed an act of treason. Justice will be served,” the Congress leader said in a post on X.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha also shared a video of remarks he had made earlier in which he warned Election Commission officials that what they were indulging in was treason and they would not be spared.
According to report in the English daily, Sandhu and Joshi formally objected, on record, at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions taken and orders issued without their knowledge. The report said the objections were raised four times on a single day.
The national rollout of the SIR has been under the supervision of all three election commissioners.
Reacting to the report, the Congress accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of running the poll panel at his whim.
“We have been saying – Modi has captured the Election Commission. Gyanesh Lumar is Modi’s puppet,” the Congress said on X, levelling accusations against the poll panel chief and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress, led by Rahul, has been campaigning on the “vote chori” issue and accusing the Election Commission of large-scale poll irregularities and working in cahoots with the ruling BJP. The Election Commission and the BJP have rejected the allegations.
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