CEC Gyanesh Kumar must resign immediately, 2024 LS polls 'rigged': Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday (September 24) launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP and the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and demanded his immediate resignation amid reports of differences within the Election Commission (EC) over Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Rahul, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, alleged that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly polls in various states “were all rigged”.

Also read: Petition seeks contempt action against CEC Gyanesh Kumar

"The first thing we are saying is that Mr Gyanesh Kumar must resign immediately. And I would add to Mr Gyanesh Kumar, please understand, you are a highly educated person. Please understand what is going on here. This thing that you have done is an act against the Indian nation. This is not just some small rigging of an election. This is an attack on the Constitution of India; this is an attack on the legal structure of our country, and you are the man who was supposed to ensure that the vote was protected," Rahul said.

“I can say with certainty that Indian elections – 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls – were all rigged,” Rahul claimed.

'Gyanesh chosen by Modi, Shah'

Attacking the EC, he questioned why anti-incumbency happens with Congress and regional parties, but for some reason it disappears for BJP.

“Gyanesh Kumar was chosen by PM, Amit Shah, and now two ECs are saying he's responsible for chaos, damage to our voting system,” Rahul said while demanding his resignation immediately.

On an Indian Express report on two Election Commissioners objecting to discrepancies in the SIR process, Rahul said, “Haryana swings from one party to another for 50 years. Suddenly anti-incumbency disappears. Maharashtra swings; suddenly it disappears. Uttar Pradesh swings. Sometimes Samajwadi, sometimes BSP; it disappears. Madhya Pradesh, it disappears. Gujarat, it disappears. This has been a fundamental question for us. We can understand the popularity of a person, and the performance of a government, but we cannot understand how anti-incumbency disappears.”

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“Anti-incumbency does not exist in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It does not exist in North Korea. There is no democracy on this planet where anti-incumbency does not exist... From the vote, which is supposed to be protected by the Election Commission, our Constitution gets its power. From the Constitution, our laws are made, and from our laws emerge our institutions. This is a chain... If the vote has been destroyed, then our constitution has been destroyed... If our constitution has been destroyed, our laws are illegal. If our laws are illegal, our institutions are meaningless,” he added.

Further, he said, “The central question here is this is not just an attack on the vote; this is an attack on the idea, the basic infrastructure, and the expression of every single Indian person. We have been saying it again and again and again that there is a problem with the vote.”

Rahul again raised the issue of "Vote Chori" (Vote Theft), and if MPs are elected through vote theft, the law they are making in the Parliament is "illegal". "Now two election commissioners are saying that Mr. Gyanesh Kumar is responsible for the chaos and the damage that has taken place to our voting system. From vote-chori comes Kanun-chori.... From Kanun-chori comes Sanstha chori — institutions. This is the chain that has taken place... If the vote has been stolen and the MPs sitting in parliament are there based on a stolen vote, then any law they are making is illegal, and any institutional change they make is also illegal."

'Deshdrohis' Modi and Shah will be investigated: Rahul

"PM Modi and Home Minister Shah are both going to be investigated for what is being done. They are at the top of this conspiracy and they will be investigated for what they have done to this country," Rahul said.

Also read: ‘Gyanesh Kumar biggest anti-national’: CJP seeks CEC’s resignation, has 2 more demands

They (Modi, Shah, Gyanesh) are "deshdrohis" (traitors) as they have "destroyed" the vote in the country's democracy, he said.

He played out a few videos and asked people to listen to the tone of Modi and Shah. In the videos, Shah is heard saying BJP will be in power for 30 years and the prime minsiter raising the slogan 'Abki Baar 400 Paar'.

No political leader who operates in a democratic environment can make such statements, Gandhi said.

In India, there is a fundamental force called anti-incumbency which starts to resist and it does not spare anybody, he said.