Kharge bats for pre-SIR electoral roll for future elections

Omar, Mehbooba attend INDIA bloc meet

NEW DELHI, Sept 30: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday batted for pre-SIR electoral roll to be used for future elections and voting through ballots instead of EVMs, as he stressed on unity in the opposition INDIA bloc with a joint action plan.

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In his opening remarks at the INDIA bloc meeting, Kharge said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should resign and turn approver against the powers "interfering" in electoral rolls

The Congress chief claimed that the CEC "stands totally exposed".

"His two fellow members have written 14 times in 10 months! It questions his very integrity and intentions. Therefore, he should be removed from his position. If he has even an iota of Constitutional or moral shame left in him, he will resign himself and turn approver against the powers who are interfering in our electoral rolls," Kharge said.

He asserted that the opposition group will not allow transparency to be replaced by secrecy.

"And we will not allow the fundamental principle of our Republic -- one person, one vote, one value -- to be weakened," he said at the meeting attended by former Congress chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, TMC chief Mamata Benerjee and leaders from parties such as the SP, RJD, CPI, CPI(M), NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT).

Kharge asserted that the ballot belongs to the people, and the mandate belongs to the people.

"So the power of government ultimately rests in the hands of the people," he said.

"Our task today is to ensure that the people of India remain the final and unquestioned authority in our democracy," Kharge said.

He suggested that the INDIA bloc should demand that the pre-SIR electoral roll to be used for future elections.

INDIA parties must also demand "complete transparency" in every electoral-roll revision, including constituency-wise and booth-wise information on additions, deletions and corrections, he said.

Kharge also called for due notice, reasons and an effective appeal mechanism before any legitimate voter is removed from the roll.

He also said the parties must call for protection of eligible voters from exclusion caused by administrative failures, inadequate documentation or lack of awareness.

While batting for voting through ballots instead of EVMs, he said there should be simple and accessible voter registration for young citizens, particularly first-time voters.

Kharge also stressed on institutional accountability and an Election Commission that commands confidence across the political spectrum.

"The INDIA parties must stand together when the fundamental democratic right of citizens is at stake. We should therefore leave this meeting with a clear programme of action," he said.

They broke several parties and the Election Commission's role has been more of a facilitator rather than an impartial arbitrator, Kharge said.

Kharge also said that by changing the rules in form 6 for enrolling for the first-time-voters by the Election Commission, the youngsters are deliberately being discouraged from voting.

On EVMs, Kharge said "our position should also be clear".

These are machines that BJP decides to use as per its needs and so "we cannot allow them to use these machines any further", he said.

"We must go back to ballot votes to restore faith and confidence in India's election system," Kharge said.

The parties that attended the meeting were the Congress, Samajwadi Party, All India Trinamool Congress, NCP(SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Rashtriya Janata Dal, CPI(M), CPI, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, CPI-ML, IUML, Kerala Congress (M), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, RevolutionarySocialist Party, Kerala Congress (Jacob) and All India Forward Bloc.

Independent Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal also attended the meeting.

The meeting comes days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) 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. (PTI)