New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the opposition would continue its protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls until Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigned or Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed him from the post.
Speaking at a public hearing in Trilokpuri, Delhi, Gandhi claimed that 416 voters had been “illegally” removed from the electoral rolls across just four polling booths in the area during the SIR exercise.
The public hearing was organised to address complaints about the electoral process. Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya and Swaraj India founder Yogendra Yadav were also present.
Gandhi alleged that Kumar had refused to answer questions raised by the opposition about the process. He said the opposition would not back down until the chief election commissioner resigned or was removed.
“Crores of people across India are being deprived of their right to vote,” Gandhi said, alleging that poor people were being removed from electoral rolls and losing their voting rights.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha claimed that concerns about alleged vote theft, which he had raised for a long time, were now gaining wider public attention.
Gandhi also accused the government of pursuing a model of development that favoured a select group of billionaires at the expense of ordinary citizens, arguing that the alleged removal of voters threatened democratic rights.
