Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 23: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the BJP, RSS and Election Commission of India (ECI) of “treason” over alleged “vote chori”, following a report that two Election Commissioners had raised objections to decisions related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Gandhi said alleged “vote chori” was a “crime against the Indian people and a direct attack on our Constitution” and claimed that those responsible would be held accountable. He also shared a video of his earlier remarks in which he had warned Election Commission officials over the issue.

His remarks followed an Indian Express report stating that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months regarding decisions and orders connected with the SIR exercise. The report said the objections covered issues including voter additions and deletions, appeals against electoral-roll decisions and the handling of voter data.

The Election Commission, however, said on Wednesday that all its decisions, including those concerning the SIR, had been unanimous and approved by the Chief Election Commissioner and both Election Commissioners.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi also criticised the Election Commission, alleging that the reported differences indicated that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had misled his colleagues. He cited the Supreme Court's description of the Election Commission as a multi-member body in which the Chief Election Commissioner is “first among equals”.

AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal demanded the immediate arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and cancellation of the SIR process. He also called for the cancellation and re-conduct of several recent state elections.

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee demanded the removal of Gyanesh Kumar and a court-monitored investigation into the functioning of the Election Commission. He alleged that the disenfranchisement of voters to benefit a political party would undermine the democratic process and urged the Supreme Court to intervene.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray thanked Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi for what he described as exposing concerns involving CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, speaking in Kerala, said that if the Chief Election Commissioner was aware that elections were being “rigged” and allowed it to happen, it amounted to “treason”.

The controversy centres on the SIR exercise, which the Election Commission has described as a process to update electoral rolls and identify ineligible or duplicate entries. Opposition parties have raised concerns over the possible exclusion of eligible voters, while the Election Commission has maintained that its decisions on the exercise were unanimous.