Opposition plans impeachment motion against CEC amid vote chori allegations: Report
In an INDIA BLOC meeting, chaired by Mallikarjun Kharge, the members decided to propose an impeachment motion against the CEC on Monday. Rahul Gandhi accused the commission of "destroying evidence" by restricting access to CCTV and webcasting footage of polling booths to just 45 days.
New Delhi: The INDIA BLOC alliance is planning to propose an impeachment motion against the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. This comes days after Rahul Gandhi had accused the poll body of large-scale voter fraud. The proposal was made at a meeting of the INDIA Bloc leaders chaired by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. Although, no final decision has been concluded by the members.
The proposal comes two weeks after Gandhi accused the Election Commission of vote theft in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Haryana. He also alleged that the EC manipulated voter data by colluding with the ruling party.
Commission hits back
Kumar further added that Gandhi should either submit an affidavit or make an apology to the people of the country. If the Leader of Opposition fails to submit the affidavit within seven days, all his allegations would be considered false.
In response, Gandhi claimed that he is being selectively targeted. "The Election Commission asks for an affidavit from me. But when Anurag Thakur (BJP MP) says the same thing that I am saying, it does not ask for an affidavit from him,” he said.
Allegations against ECI
On August 7, Rahul Gandhi, at a press conference, claimed that the Congress carried out a thorough inquiry of the Mahadevapura voters and it had discovered multiple discrepancies while doing so. He presented duplicate names, invalid addresses and instances of bulk registrations, including "80 voters at one address, " at the conference. He claimed that 1,00,250 "stolen” votes in Mahadevapura assembly were manipulated, leading to the BJP's victory.
He then accused the commission of "destroying evidence” by restricting access to CCTV and webcasting footage of polling booths to just 45 days.
The CEC countered the allegation, saying, "Should the Election Commission share CCTV videos of any voter, including their mothers, daughters-in-law, daughters?” Kumar asked, reiterating that only those listed on the rolls had voted.
Kumar also rejected allegations of inflated voter rolls in Maharashtra, adding that no formal objections were raised during the draft roll period and that no proofs had been submitted even eight months post-election.
The CEC then mocked Rahul Gandhi saying, even if one repeatedly makes false claims, the truth would not be changed. "If you keep saying anything 10 times, 20 times, it does not become true. The sun rises only in the east. It does not rise in the west just because someone says so,” Kumar said, pointing out that the Election Commission "fearlessly stands with all voters without discrimination." The CEC, then claimed that the that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar is being conducted in a transparent way and is backed by the credibility of seven crore voters.