NEW DELHI — Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Monday said that the Election Commission of India has been so exposed that it can no longer hide its actions.
Talking to reporters during the protest march to the ECI office, Gandhi stated this.
Earlier, about 300 Opposition MPs, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other opposition leaders were stopped from marching to the Election Commission against the electoral malpractices and vote theft (vote chori), across the country.
As the MPs were stopped, many of them sat on the road and raised slogans against the Government and the EC. Later, the police whisked them away in buses lined up along the road and took them to the Parliament Street Police Station. All the MPs were released afterward.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge raised the matter in the House pointing out how Opposition MPs from both Houses were prevented from reaching the Election Commission.
Replying to a question on the commission giving notice to him and asking him to submit the complaint on an affidavit under oath, Rahul Gandhi shot back asking as why did he need to submit an affidavit when he had quoted the ECI data only. He suggested to the ECI that it should verify it on its own website.
Ruing the refusal of ECI to meet the Opposition MPs, Rahul Gandhi noted, “Look at the condition of democracy in India. 300 MPs want to meet the Election Commission, but the Election Commission says – you cannot come to meet”.
“Because the Election Commission is afraid of the truth”, he added.
Referring to the nationwide concern over the electoral malpractices after his expose, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha asserted, “now this is not a political fight, this is a fight to save the soul of the country. It is a fight to save the Constitution”. He pointed out, according to the Constitution, one person has the right to one vote. “We have clearly shown that now there is no concept of ‘one person-one vote’, but one person with many votes and many persons with many votes”.
Gandhi said, the youth of the country have come to know this truth. “Now it is difficult for the Election Commission to hide itself”, he remarked. He added that the Opposition wants a clean and accurate voters’ list.
Arguing that it was the data of the Election Commission, Gandhi said, “this is not my data, for which I need to sign an affidavit. The Election Commission should pick up the data and put it on its website, then it will know itself”. He added that all this is just to divert attention from the issue. “This has not happened only in Bengaluru, but has also happened in many Constituencies”, he said, while adding, the Election Commission knows that the data they are trying to hide will be exposed.
