CHANDIGARH: The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab on Saturday staged a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged vote theft, while accusing the BJP-led Union government of detaining protesters ahead of the proposed Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
The Chandigarh Police detained senior AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and several other party leaders during the protest near the office of the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer. Those detained included Baltej Punia and Sonia Mann.
The protesters carried placards reading ‘Vote Chhor Gaddi Chhor’ and ‘Loktantar Bachao’ and raised slogans against Kumar. Heavy police deployment and barricades were put in place.
Addressing the protesters, Sisodia criticised the Centre for deploying a heavy police force in Delhi and detaining youths seeking the CEC’s resignation.
“Such a situation was not even seen during the Emergency. Modi is scared that if protesters manage to reach Jantar Mantar, then like Dharmendra Pradhan, Gyanesh Kumar would also have to quit,” he said.
Sisodia said the AAP supported the CJP’s protest call at Jantar Mantar. “We also demand that Gyanesh Kumar resign,” he said, alleging that 13 crore voters had been removed from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. “Modi does not win elections; he steals votes,” he alleged.
Cheema also criticised the Centre over the detentions in Delhi. “Youths were being detained. When youths were coming to Delhi for protest, the BJP was depriving them of exercising their democratic right, asn unannounced Emergency has been imposed by the BJP,” he alleged.
The CJP has called for a demonstration at Jantar Mantar over alleged manipulation of electoral rolls during the SIR exercise and changes relating to Form 6, which is used for voter registration.
Meanwhile, Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon criticised the AAP’s protest outside the Election Commission’s office, saying the SIR process in Punjab was being conducted by the state government and that the Centre had no role in it.
“Then who is the Aam Aadmi Party protesting against? Do Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party no longer trust their own government?” he asked.
Dhillon said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal had repeatedly assured the public that no legitimate voter would be removed from Punjab’s electoral rolls.
“When the Chief Minister and the party’s national convenor have themselves given this assurance, what is the justification for staging a protest outside the Election Commission’s office?” he asked.
He alleged that the AAP government was seeking to divert attention from issues including pending dearness allowance (DA), drug-related problems, gangster activity, law and order concerns and rising state debt.
Referring to a 2015 video of Kejriwal, Dhillon said the AAP leader had claimed that Delhi had more than 1.1 million duplicate voters and had submitted a list to the Election Commission. He questioned why Kejriwal was now opposing verification of electoral rolls and the removal of fake names under the SIR process.
“Why is he now taking a U-turn on an issue that he had himself raised earlier?” he asked.
Dhillon accused the AAP of undermining democracy through electoral manipulation and vote theft. He also referred to alleged irregularities during municipal corporation and municipal council elections in Punjab, including the tearing of nomination papers and intimidation of Opposition candidates.
He said recent Supreme Court orders directing fresh elections in Patiala, Moga and Bagha Purana had raised questions about the AAP government and the electoral process.
“How can a party facing allegations of undermining the sanctity of elections claim the moral authority to lecture others on democracy?” he asked.
