Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday accused the Election Commission of acting as a “puppet” of the BJP and joining the ruling party in “vote theft” as he took part in a Congress protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Addressing the demonstration, he urged President Droupadi Murmu to intervene and demanded that the poll panel be dissolved, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar be arrested, elections he alleged were “illegally held” be annulled, and the ongoing exercise be scrapped and done afresh.
The protest by the Karnataka Congress came amid an Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge. The Election Commission, however, has said all its decisions, including those linked to the SIR exercise, had the approval of all three commissioners and that differing views and observations were part of its deliberative process.
Congress leaders and workers gathered at Freedom Park in Bengaluru, holding placards and raising slogans against the Election Commission while demanding Kumar’s resignation and arrest. Former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and Veerappa Moily, Karnataka Congress president B K Hariprasad, AICC secretary Gopinath Palaniappan, ministers and legislators were among those who joined the protest.
Shivakumar alleged that the SIR exercise had led to the deletion or categorisation of a large number of voters. “The EC has become a puppet of the BJP. Names of poor voters and those who criticise the administration are being targeted. They have become partners in vote theft along with the BJP,” he said. He said the Commission had been given autonomy under the Constitution, but alleged that its powers were being misused.
Continuing his attack, Shivakumar said, “Gyanesh Kumar is not the Chief Election Commissioner, but the Chief Selection Commissioner. People will rise against these injustices. The Centre should convene a session of Parliament and discuss the issue at the earliest.” He demanded that the revision carried out so far be cancelled and a fresh exercise undertaken. Taking a dig at the Centre, he alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appointed “puppets” to the EC, but claimed that the other two commissioners had now acted according to their conscience and “rebelled” against Kumar’s decisions. “This is an example of rising against your (Modi’s) decision,” he said.
On the voter data, Shivakumar said Karnataka has a population of around seven crore and 5.54 crore registered voters, but alleged that the draft electoral rolls published after the SIR contained 4.46 crore names. He said 30-40 lakh people had been issued notices over discrepancies in the rolls. According to the EC’s SIR data, 1.08 crore voters in Karnataka were categorised under Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others, while notices over discrepancies were issued to 43.81 lakh voters among the 4.46 crore names in the draft rolls.
“The right to vote is the right of every individual. Voting is the biggest opportunity given by our Constitution through the democratic system. We will not allow this right to be taken away,” Shivakumar said. “We are fighting for a strong electoral system. The anti-SIR movement will be taken to every village,” he added.
The Indian Express report said the objections by Sandhu and Joshi related to issues including changes to statutory voter registration Form 6, voter registration and deletion, and the centralisation of control over the electoral roll database. The Election Commission rejected the suggestion of unilateral decision-making and said all decisions had the backing of the full commission.
Siddaramaiah demanded Kumar’s immediate removal and sought a criminal case against him, alleging that the Election Commission was not functioning independently and impartially. “If the Election Commission does not function independently, democracy itself cannot survive. This is a question of the survival of democracy,” he said. He said President Murmu, as the custodian of the Constitution, should intervene if it was established that EC members had acted in violation of constitutional provisions. “The Election Commission is not an institution that should be loyal to any government or political party. It should be loyal only to the Constitution given by Babasaheb B R Ambedkar,” he said. He added that Kumar should not continue in office if the objections raised by the two commissioners were found to be true, and alleged that Modi had come to power through “vote theft” and had no moral right to remain in office.
Hariprasad also demanded Kumar’s removal, alleging that the functioning of the Election Commission was undermining democracy and that eligible voters were being deleted from electoral rolls. He said large numbers of voters had been excluded from rolls in Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana and Maharashtra as well, and claimed that more than 1.07 crore voters had been removed in Karnataka. He said the Congress would continue its agitation at the district level from Monday. The protest centred on the party’s charge that the SIR exercise had harmed voter rights, while the Election Commission maintained that its decisions were taken collectively.
– Ends
With PTI inputs
