Kharge accuses Modi government of weakening democracy, calls CEC ‘puppet’ over SIR row

The CWC, which is the Congress’s highest decision-making body, resolved to demand the immediate resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner, suspension of the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls in several states, restoration of over 13 lakh names struck off voter lists and the resignation of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.

Here’s the CWC resolution:

“The Congress Working Committee (CWC) met to deliberate on the grave danger to our democracy posed by recent reports of the RSS-BJP’s capture of the entire electoral process, abetted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) under the current Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).

These revelations vindicate Shri Rahul Gandhi’s sustained warnings about the systematic subversion of India’s electoral process through Vote Chori. He has consistently drawn the nation’s attention to the selective enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct, concerns over the integrity of EVMs, arbitrary additions to and deletions from electoral rolls, the changed process for appointing the CEC, and the grant of lifelong immunity to the CEC.

The CWC notes that concerns over the integrity of India’s elections are further heightened by the recent reports that the ECI has been reduced to a one-man show, with the CEC taking decisions without due consultation with the other Election Commissioners. Reportedly two Election Commissioners raised 14 objections over ten months, citing “unauthorised” and “illegal” changes to Form 6 used in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), exposing a pattern of institutional overreach. The unprecedented concentration of control over electoral rolls in the hands of a few BJP-backed officials during the nationwide SIR serves as the last nail in the coffin of the ECI’s credibility.

The CWC is gravely alarmed by the mounting questions over the constitutionality of the SIR that has already wiped out 13 crore 30 lakh Indians from the electoral rolls. A process that shifts the burden onto citizens to prove their own eligibility, is executed in haste without transparent safeguards, and results in arbitrary mass-disenfranchisement cannot be reconciled with the guarantee of equality under Article 14 or universal adult suffrage under Article 326. An exercise of doubtful constitutional validity cannot be allowed to decide who may vote in the world’s largest democracy.

Under the guidance of Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and the leadership of Shri Rahul Gandhi, Congress has already taken this fight to the people and to every available forum: the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar; the nationwide Vote Chori campaign, following his press conferences exposing roll manipulation in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana; the EAGLE group and its engagement with the ECI; written objections to procedural changes; legal challenges to the SIR; INDIA bloc protests in Parliament; and the march to the ECI. What began as one man’s solitary warning is now a national demand for transparency and accountability.

The CWC recognizes that what was once Shri Rahul Gandhi’s solitary conviction has become a nationwide demand for accountability, transparency, and the restoration of the sanctity of India’s electoral system. In line with the mood of the nation, the CWC therefore resolves to:

• Demand the immediate resignation of the CEC, who has forfeited all moral and institutional authority.
• Demand the immediate suspension of the SIR in view of serious concerns regarding the integrity and transparency of the electoral rolls being prepared through the SIR, as well as the constitutional validity of the SIR process itself.
• Demand the immediate restoration of the 13 crore 30 lakh names removed from the electoral rolls.

This brazen Vote Chori has been organised by the CEC on behalf of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. Nothing short of their resignation will ensure the safety of our constitution and hard-earned democracy.

The BJP and its handpicked officials must understand that this brazen theft of the people’s franchise will not go unanswered. The Congress party will resist it in Parliament, in the courts and on the streets, until the guilty are punished, every citizen’s vote is secure and the ECI is restored as an independent constitutional authority. For the Indian National Congress, the struggle to restore universal adult franchise in India is no less than the Freedom Struggle itself. And we will ensure that this struggle reaches its rightful conclusion.”