‘Act of treason’: Rahul Gandhi renews ‘vote chori’ charge after Express report - The Indian Express

Hours after The Indian Express investigation on the conflict within the Election Commission raised a political storm, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, accused the ruling BJP and the poll panel of treason.

In a separate interaction with the media, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Singhvi demanded Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and said the BJP has opened “an office for the murder of democracy”.

Gandhi, who has been consistently questioning the Election Commission and its poll practices over the past several years, said in a post on X, “Vote chori is a crime against the Indian people and a direct attack on our Constitution. The BJP, RSS and EC who organised it have committed an act of treason. Justice will be served.”

Vote chori is a crime against the Indian people and a direct attack on our constitution.

The BJP, RSS and EC who organised it have committed an act of treason.

Justice will be served. pic.twitter.com/30kX06CBiH

An investigation by The Indian Express has found that critical questions over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists were raised from within the three-member Election Commission.

Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected, on record, at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions taken by the poll panel, the investigation found.

Reacting to the scoop, the Congress said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was running the poll panel at his whim. “We have been saying – Modi has captured the Election Commission. Gyanesh Kumar is Modi’s puppet,” the Congress said on X, levelling serious accusations against the poll panel chief and the Prime Minister.

The Congress, led by Gandhi, has been running a ‘vote chori’ campaign against the Election Commission, accusing it of large-scale poll irregularities and working in cahoots with the ruling BJP. The poll panel and the ruling party have rubbished these allegations.

Gandhi has earlier addressed press conferences and claimed irregularities in voter lists.

He has also accused the Election Commission of working against the Opposition parties, most recently when the poll panel froze the name and symbol of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress.

In fact, the Congress is now likely to launch a two-pronged attack on the government, plugging in the ‘vote chori’ charge alongside Gandhi’s Chhatron ki Goonj campaign to mobilise support among students and youngsters in the aftermath of paper leaks.

In a press meet in the national capital, Congress leader Singhvi said the issue highlighted in the Express investigation is “extremely serious”.

“It can be fatal for ours and any democracy. It is an example of double bulldozer government where there is an external bulldozer… which assaults all major institutions of India… Apart from that external bulldozer, we have an internal bulldozer – the CEC, which has bulldozed his own organisation, his colleagues… He runs it like a feudal lord not answerable to any authority.”

“The BJP has opened an office for the murder of democracy. On one end, they have posted the CEC, and on the other hand, is the Home Ministry. I will establish this theme. This is a serious matter and is fatal for our republic.

The CEC has bulldozed his own organization, he has bulldozed his own colleagues, and he has hijacked not only the EC but every Election Commissioner.

He runs it as if he were the sole sovereign feudal lord of a fiefdom, not a constitutional authority answerable to other… pic.twitter.com/xK9q7Xkx2G

“I will start from the report in The Indian Express, which is a widely known newspaper. I want to congratulate it. It shows journalism of courage and also of analysis and research. It is a lesson for godi media’s sections. It is a peak showing that if you have been given the category of the fourth pillar of democracy, then how you can deliver,” said Singhvi.

“The first point: many years ago in 1995, the Supreme Court had made it clear that the ECI is a majority body. You would remember that during TN Seshan’s tenure, this legal question was raised. That the CEC is the top authority. The ECs don’t have equal power or status. This question was answered that all ECs are equal, that the CEC is not higher and is just first among equals.”

“Today’s revelation shows that the CEC not just misled the country, but also misled his colleagues. He hijacked the ECI, and made the ECs not serve in the ECI. He hijacked his ECs. This is the example of the internal bulldozer. This is disgusting for a Constitutional body,” the Rajya Sabha member said.

Targeting Gyanesh Kumar, Singhvi said he has no right to continue in his position. The Congress MP said the party demands that all these dissent notes should be shared with the country. “Don’t tell us we should seek them in RTIs. We know what will happen,” said Singhvi.

Wayanad MP and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, too, said a treason had been committed.

She said, “This is an extremely serious issue for our democracy. If there are no elections, then where is democracy? If elections are unfair and rigged in any manner, then the Election Commission is assisting in that. If the Election Commissioner is not only aware of it but also allowing it to happen, then it is a very serious assault on democracy. It is an act of treason.”

She says, “This is an extremely serious issue for our democracy. If there are no elections, then where is democracy? If elections are… pic.twitter.com/5Ph6bk92cY

She called for a free and fair official investigation into the matter by an independent body. She said the official investigation must be made transparent to the entire country.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the government was taking over India’s democracy and its institutions and questions are being raised about their independence and impartiality.

“For several years now, the Congress Party and many opposition parties have been raising questions about the fairness of elections held in the country. We have consistently viewed the role of the Election Commission with suspicion. When we raised questions, they were dismissed as a joke. The doors of the Commission were shut,” Kharge alleged in a post on X.

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More