New Delhi: Putting up a united front on the ‘vote chori’ issue, the opposition INDIA bloc on Wednesday announced joint ‘save democracy’ marches in all districts and five major rallies, demanded that future polls be held with ballot paper and appealed to the Supreme Court to expedite cases of SIR and electoral “malpractices”.
At a meeting attended by leaders of as many as 19 political parties that lasted over three-and-a-half hours, it was decided that all opposition MPs will march to the Election Commission on October 6 and the leaders would meet the President to highlight the issues related to alleged irregularities in voter list revision.
The opposition grouping discussed the demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and said they will not relent till he is ousted.
The meeting held at the Constitution Club here was attended by top party leaders – Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, besides TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, besides left leaders.
Some opposition leaders, including Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM chief Hemant Soren, participated in the meeting online, as they could not be physically present.
“With unanimity, everyone vowed to fight together,” Kharge said while addressing a joint briefing by the bloc leaders after their meeting,
The Congress chief said they have decided on the joint action plan, whereby “save democracy” marches will be taken out in all districts from October 2-8 and demonstrations will be held before the district magistrate’s office, where the youth and NGOs would also be invited.
“We will hold five big rallies during October/November and date and place would be decided soon. We will tell people how the government is snatching the rights of the people to elect their government for running the country,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi said INDIA bloc leaders are the “collective defenders” of the Indian Constitution and asserted that it is their “personal commitment” to ensure that those who have “destroyed” Indian democracy are punished.
TMC chief Mamata Banerjee asserted that the INDIA bloc is “very much united” and demanded immediate removal of CEC Kumar, alleging serious electoral wrongdoing and manipulation of the electoral process.
“But now it has been exposed that Gyanesh Kumar is a ‘daaku’. He stole people’s votes… therefore, Gyanesh Kumar must resign immediately,” she said.
“If Gyanesh Kumar does not resign, we people will launch a massive movement from ‘mitti to aasmaan’ (from the ground to the sky). We will fight, we will win… we will protect democracy and the Constitution,” she said.
Kharge said that on November 1 a mega rally would be organised in the national capital to highlight the issue of ‘vote chori’.
“Now everyone is realising that what Rahul ji was saying is correct and it is attracting attention. First Prime Minister Narendra Modi did ‘notebandi’ and is now doing ‘votebandi’, taking away the people’s rights,” he said.
Asked about reverting to ballots instead of EVMs, Kharge said everyone 100 per cent agreed that all elections henceforth should be held on ballot paper and that the laws framed by this “vote chori government” should be annulled.
According to sources, the rallies will be held in Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru and one more city.
The Congress chief said Modi-Shah are making the Election Commission work like a “puppet”, alleging that “These people are only winning elections by stealing votes. When our people oppose this, they are harassed.”
“The pawns are just a front; the Prime Minister and Home Minister are behind the ‘vote chori’ and thus they are winning polls,” he alleged, adding that they are “harassing” those fighting for democracy.
Leaders of Opposition in both houses will seek an appointment from the President, and make a representation in the second week of October against the “vote chori government”, he said.
The INDIA bloc leaders appeal to the Supreme Court to expedite the cases of SIR and electoral “malpractices”, Kharge said.
“INDIA bloc meeting saw a very good discussion and the main issue was ‘vote chori’. All parties are of the opinion that the democratic system of India has been attacked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar,” Rahul Gandhi said.
The BJP, however, claimed that the INDIA bloc is crumbling and its leaders have rejected Rahul Gandhi’s leadership after Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders skipped the alliance’s Wednesday meeting.
Addressing a press conference here, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “Zero vision, 100 per cent frustration, and an advance excuse for poll defeats are the outcome of the INDIA bloc meet.”
He said that the INDIA bloc’s proposed marches from October 2 to October 8 are not meant to save democracy, but to save the “dynasty” of the Congress and its constituents.
While the DMK and the AAP skipped the meeting, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also did not attend on account of nominations for Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Chouhan said, “The INDIA alliance fell apart even before the meeting took place. The DMK is not attending the meeting. Akhilesh is busy elsewhere. The AAP had already declined.”
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said that the INDIA bloc is united against ‘vote chori’, alleging that Gyanesh Kumar “rigged” elections and handed states on a platter to the BJP.
“Just as the Congress has resolved to take our fight to the finish against Gyanesh Kumar – so is the INDIA bloc determined to make this a nationwide mass movement to protect our democracy,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi said the opposition is “not going to take it lying down”.
“It is a personal commitment of all INDIA bloc leaders; we are going to ensure that people who have destroyed Indian democracy are punished. Doesn’t matter how senior they are, who they are, Indian democracy is bigger than every single person in this country,” he asserted.
“I mentioned to all opposition leaders that they are the collective defenders of the Constitution and in the next few months we will make serious changes in the country,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
In her remarks, TMC Banerjee said a “big scam” has happened in the country whose consequences the public is suffering.
The BJP, in collusion with the Election Commission, formed governments in different states, she alleged, citing polls in different states including West Bengal where she claimed the elections were “stolen”.
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.
