Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday asserted that the Opposition will not stop its protests against the SIR exercise till Gyanesh Kumar resigns or Prime Minister Narendra Modi removes him as the Chief Election Commissioner.
Speaking at a 'Jan Sunwai' event in Trilokpuri in the national capital, Gandhi claimed that names of 416 voters were "illegally" removed from four booths alone in the area under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha was accompanied by CPI (ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya and Swaraj India's Yogendra Yadav during the "public hearing" of grievances over the electoral process.
"We have seen here that in four booths, 416 voters have been illegally removed. We have raised questions with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, but he refuses to answer and hides. But we will not stop.
"The Opposition will continue its fight until Gyanesh Kumar resigns or Prime Minister Narendra Modi removes him. Crores of people across India are being deprived of their right to vote," he told the gathering.
Gandhi claimed that the party has been raising this issue for a long time, but now the entire country is beginning to understand that "votes are being stolen at the highest level".
"Poor people are being removed from the electoral rolls, and their rights are being snatched," he alleged.
"Why is this happening? An attempt is being made to create a new India belonging to a select group of billionaires, where citizens have no rights and the poor are denied their rights, leaving a country that serves only the interests of billionaires," the Congress leader alleged.
Gandhi said voting is the right of every Indian citizen, but today, the rights of millions of people are being snatched away. "We have been raising this issue for quite some time, but now the entire country is realising that vote theft is happening from the top level.... Narendra Modi is hell-bent on creating a Hindustan only for the rich," he said.
Gandhi also alleged earlier that Gyanesh Kumar is carrying out vote theft by fraudulently removing people's names from voter lists, which amounted to treason. "We will together raise our voice against this injustice, and protect people's right to vote," he said.
Gandhi stressed that until Gyanesh Kumar resigns, the entire Opposition will remain united and continue to raise its voice against this injustice.
(With inputs from PTI)
