NEW DELHI: As protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar continued for the third consecutive day, the Congress on Monday announced a nationwide ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ campaign to demand his removal and seek the restoration of more than 13 crore voters who had been deleted from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in various states.
Stepping up the attack, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asserted that it was now established beyond doubt that Kumar had changed Form 6 “illegally and unilaterally”. The CEC and everyone involved in this “criminal assault on democracy” would be held accountable, he said.
His remarks came after the Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission and the Centre on pleas alleging that the poll body had taken several decisions without the approval of the two election commissioners. The court said it would annul decisions found to be contrary to law and clarified that it had not approved any modifications to Form 6 being used by the Commission.
Form 6 is the application through which an eligible person seeks inclusion in the electoral roll for the first time.
Announcing the campaign after a meeting of Congress general secretaries, state in-charges, PCC presidents and frontal organisations, AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said party workers would reach out to voters whose names had allegedly been deleted and work towards restoring them to the rolls.
The campaign will build on the district -level demonstrations and ‘Save Democracy’ marches being held with INDIA bloc partners from October 2 to 8. From October 10 to 20, the Congress will organise bike rallies, cycle rallies and padyatras at the block level across the country.
“Thousands of workers in each block will participate,” Venugopal said, adding that protesters would burn effigies of Kumar. Pamphlets detailing alleged “vote chori” would also be distributed at public gatherings, including Navratri celebrations.
From October 25 to November 25, the focus will shift to village-level chaupals and identifying voters whose names the party alleges were removed from the rolls. Congress workers, designated ‘Vote Rakshaks’, will visit affected households and discuss their grievances, he said.
The programme also includes an INDIA Bloc rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1 and six ‘Chalo Delhi’ yatras from areas around the capital on November 25 and 26. Venugopal said the party was preparing for a massive turnout at the Delhi rally.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi had directed party leaders to mount an aggressive nationwide campaign against alleged irregularities in the electoral process, he said.
“Congress president has given a clear direction today to the PCC presidents, in-charges and general secretaries for an aggressive, nationwide campaign against vote theft. ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ is the slogan we are raising,” Venugopal said.
AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said restoring deleted names would be central to the campaign. “There are 10 lakh booths in the country and more than 13 crore voters have been deleted from the rolls. Our effort will be to bring them back to the voter rolls,” he said.
