New Delhi: The political confrontation over Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls intensified on Tuesday, with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal backing the demand for Kumar’s resignation and the BJP challenging the Opposition’s account of its protest against the poll panel.
During a three-day visit to Goa, Kejriwal said the AAP supported the nationwide campaign against alleged 'Vote Chori' and claimed that the demand for Kumar’s resignation was gaining support across the country.
Referring to the SIR exercise, Kejriwal alleged that genuine voters were being removed from electoral rolls while “fake voters” were being added. He accused the process of undermining democracy and said Kumar should resign.
“I want to say that there is a demand at the national level for CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation; the entire country is now coming together for it,” Kejriwal said.
He also alleged that electoral victories had been secured by deleting genuine voters and adding fake names through SIR, describing the process as “absolutely wrong and against democracy”.
The remarks came amid a fresh dispute between the Opposition and the Election Commission over an INDIA bloc protest in New Delhi.
The ECI said no political party had formally sought an appointment with the poll panel until 4 pm on Tuesday. It said Delhi Police subsequently informed it that a delegation of around 240 MPs, led by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, wanted to meet the Election Commissioners and submit a memorandum.
The Commission described the manner in which the meeting was sought as “unusual” under its established protocol. It said it later offered to send its most senior executive officer to the protest venue to receive the memorandum, but the offer was declined by the Opposition MPs.
BJP national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi used the ECI statement to challenge Gandhi’s account of the protest, accusing him of staging a “drama” over the demand for a meeting. Trivedi said the Commission’s version showed that the Opposition had not followed the established procedure for seeking an appointment.
Rahul Gandhi, however, defended the protest, saying the Opposition wanted to meet the Election Commissioners and raise questions about the revision of electoral rolls.
“300 opposition MPs were removed from there, so I came here and sat,” Gandhi said, adding that the Opposition wanted to speak to CEC Gyanesh Kumar and the other Election Commissioners about the concerns of voters.
The INDIA bloc leaders had marched towards Nirvachan Sadan as part of their broader 'Save Democracy' campaign before staging a sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan. Gandhi and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were among the Opposition leaders detained by Delhi Police, according to the account provided by the Congress.
The row comes as Opposition parties continue to challenge the Election Commission over the SIR exercise, alleging irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls. The Election Commission has maintained that the exercise follows established procedures.
The agitation is also spreading beyond the INDIA bloc. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has been demanding Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the electoral process, has announced another protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on October 10 if the CEC does not resign.
With the AAP now publicly backing the resignation demand and the CJP preparing for another mobilisation, the dispute over SIR and the Election Commission is set for another round of political confrontation.
(With agency inputs from ANI)