Chief Election Commissioner should be punished for disenfranchising voters: Cong leader

Shillong, Oct  28: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has said  the Chief Election Commissioner should resign and be punished for disenfranchising crores of voters.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Chowdhury said, “The CEC must resign unconditionally. He should be punished because he has committed the greatest electoral crime where crores of citizens have been deprived of their electoral rights”.

“Earlier the Chief Justice of India was part of the three-member selection committee. The government inducted its own minister to ensure a majority. I opposed this in front of Modi. The selection body is based on political majority only to ensure their own men lead the Election Commission,” he said.

“The entire country is engulfed in electoral faults engineered by the ruling dispensation in cahoots with the Election Commission. This is the greatest electoral fraud ever witnessed under the sun,” he alleged.

Referring to the growth of the electorate, Chowdhury said, “On January 25, 1950, the Election Commission began its journey. Then voters were 17 crore, now they are 97 crore. In the last Lok Sabha polls, 64 crore — 66% — exercised franchise compared to 44-45% in the first election. Everyone can understand the magnitude. If 13 crore plus voters are deleted from rolls and cannot vote, can you imagine the pain and deprivation? The number of deleted voters may exceed the population of many European countries.”

Alleged a cover-up, he said, “The Election Commission and government were playing hide and seek to suppress the actual dimension of disfranchisement. It is a deliberate design,” he said.

Chowdhury said the INDIA bloc has called a rally in Delhi and urged people from the Northeast to attend.

“Despite logistical inconveniences, people must attend. This is the call of the nation to safeguard the Constitution. Without free and fair elections, democracy cannot be saved. Till this dispensation controls the Election Commission, we cannot expect free and fair polls,” he said.

He claimed two Election Commissioners had objected to the SIR exercise.

“The Commission has three members. Two Election Commissioners from the beginning of SIR have been raising issues that it may affect the electoral process. But brushing aside their opinion, the CEC backed by the ruling dispensation has been committing the same crime day after day, due to which crores of bonafide citizens have been disenfranchised. Never has such a horrible situation occurred,” he said.

“The government is defending the indefensible — a CEC who cannot be defended by any argument,” he added.

“It is not the job of ruling parties to defend the Election Commission. It is an autonomous institution under Article 324. It should defend itself. But ruling party leaders are hell-bent on defending it. This is a ploy to mislead people. The EC has been tarnished by its own designs and now through affidavits is trying to hide its nefarious designs,” he said.

Chowdhury said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been consistently raising the issue.

“Rahul Gandhi has been protesting only to ensure voters’ rights under our Constitution. Without a free and fair electoral roll, you cannot claim a free and fair election. If voters are looted, the entire process becomes a farce,” he said.