Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said that if Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was aware of any alleged manipulation of elections and allowed it to happen, it would amount to “treachery to the nation” and “an act of treason”.
Speaking to reporters at Nilambur in her Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, Priyanka said those responsible for any such wrongdoing “have to be taken to task” following a proper investigation.
She said her brother and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had been repeatedly raising concerns over alleged “biases and injustice” in the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
“He has repeatedly highlighted multiple issues and now it is coming out in the news media as well that Election Commissioners themselves have highlighted some of the issues to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar,” she said.
Referring to reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had flagged multiple issues, including deletion of names, during the voter roll cleanup under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Priyanka said the matter was “extremely serious” for democracy.
“If there are no elections, where is democracy? And if the elections are unfair and are being rigged in any manner and the ECI is assisting in that, and the Election Commissioner is not only aware of it, but also allowing it to happen, then it is a very, very serious assault on democracy,” she said.
“It is actually treachery with the nation. It is an act of treason and whoever is doing it has to be taken to task,” she added.
Priyanka said any investigation into the matter should be conducted in a manner that ensured public confidence in its fairness.
“But it should be looked into in a manner where we know and the whole nation knows that this is being done in a proper manner. We are the largest democracy in the world. And we have had a robust democracy for years, for decades,” she said.
“We cannot afford to go lightly on these issues. We are all working tirelessly to strengthen our democracy. And here is the Election Commission that is doing all it can to weaken it,” she added.
Priyanka said that if reports about the alleged irregularities were factual, they would warrant serious scrutiny.
She referred to what she described as long-standing concerns over the alleged “manipulation of voters lists, deletion of lakhs of voters and manipulations that have taken place in Maharashtra and Haryana”.
“If that is actually the case, and if what is coming out in the media are the facts, and if what we have suspected for a very long time is actually true, then it is something extremely serious,” she said.
“Those people who are responsible for it have to be taken to task. They have to be held responsible,” she added.
The Election Commission, however, has said that its decisions relating to the pan-India SIR were unanimous.
(With inputs from PTI)