Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation on moral grounds for allegedly "pressuring" the poll panel chief.
Addressing a crucial meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Kharge said the party would step up its campaign against Kumar and the government, taking the issue to the streets and raising in Parliament alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the poll process.
Kharge put forth five key demands, including making public all data relating to changes in electoral rolls, giving voters whose names have been deleted an opportunity to appeal and providing all political parties electoral rolls in a simple format and within the stipulated time.
He also called for an independent, time-bound probe wherever serious anomalies are found and demanded greater transparency in the poll process so that there is no perception that information is being withheld.
"The two Election Commissioners have themselves termed the CEC's actions as 'arbitrary and unreasonable' and the entire nation now knows that he has been trying to help the ruling party. In such a situation, he does not have the right to be in his position and should be removed immediately," Kharge said.
"Together with this, the prime minister should also resign on moral grounds for 'pressuring' the CEC," he said in his inaugural address at the CWC.
Kharge's remarks came amid reports of differences within the Election Commission over aspects of the SIR exercise, including changes to Form 6, additions and deletions from voter lists and control over the electoral roll database.
The Indian Express has reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on record at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders relating to SIR, which they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
The Election Commission, however, has rejected reports of a rift, saying differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations and that its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures. It has also maintained that decisions related to SIR were taken unanimously.
The Congress has alleged that the EC's recent measures relating to SIR amount to an admission of serious shortcomings in the exercise and said the "piecemeal" steps for voters whose names have been deleted or are at risk would do little to address what it termed "mass disenfranchisement".
"We should take a pledge at the CWC meeting that there should be transparency in electoral rolls and the poll process should be impartial. Institutions should be independent and the vote of every Indian should be protected," Kharge said.
He said this was the "core" of the Constitution and the "soul" of democracy, asserting that the Congress would not shy away from fulfilling its responsibility and would take the issue to the streets and Parliament.
The CWC meeting, chaired by Kharge, is being attended by former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, besides general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal, among others.
Kharge also thanked Congress leaders and workers for standing behind Rahul Gandhi, who has repeatedly raised allegations of irregularities in electoral rolls and questioned the role of the CEC.
The Congress is also seeking to coordinate its campaign with other opposition parties. The INDIA bloc is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss a joint strategy on the SIR issue and the demand for action against Kumar.
(With inputs from PTI)
