Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi told the Congress Working Committee on Tuesday that EVM and voters’ list “match-fixing” of polls was underway in the country and asserted that his party should not budge from the path of “virodh” (opposing) as well as “pratirodh” (resistance) against it from streets to Parliament, sources said.
Speaking during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting here at Indira Bhawan, Gandhi also said that revelations about the Election Commission were now coming out in the open because of the Congress.
During the two-and-a-half hour meeting, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha pointed out that the Congress had been raising the “vote chori” issue strongly with facts and talked about irregularities in polls in Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra but many were sceptical of it, sources said.
The issue is now being discussed in the media and in editorials and the Congress stand has been vindicated, he was quoted as saying.
So, the atmosphere has indeed changed over these two years, largely because of presentations based on facts by the Congress, Gandhi said.
Gandhi had stated that there are two types of “match-fixing” — one involving EVMs and the other is deliberate tampering with the voter lists, according to sources.
“So, there are two forms of match-fixing: EVM match-fixing and voter list match-fixing, both are happening,” Gandhi was quoted as saying.
Gandhi also said that there is no doubt that the 2024 election was “completely fixed and rigged”.
He also said several legislations, specifically the law passed in December 2023 giving immunity to the CEC and the two Election Commissioners, were questionable and wrong, according to sources.
Gandhi’s message to the leaders was that the party should not budge from the path of “virodh” (opposing) as well as “pratirodh” (resistance) from streets to Parliament, they said.
Gandhi also reminded of the Congress Session of 1930 in Lahore.
At that time, when the British denied even provincial autonomy to the Indian National Congress, it took the decision to take the path of ‘Purna Swaraj’, Gandhi said.
As the present government refuses to listen to the voice of the people of this country or heed their demands, there is only one way forward for parties that believe in democracy — to resist, he said.
The Congress demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, suspension of the SIR, restoration of over 13 crore names struck off from the electoral rolls and the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “match-fixing” polls.
The meeting comes days after The Indian Express claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on SIR that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
