Mumbai, Sep 26 (IANS) The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Saturday escalated its confrontation with the Election Commission of India (ECI), announcing a statewide agitation on September 28.
The party is demanding the dismissal and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of acting in a partisan manner to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and undermining democratic institutions.
The announcement comes amid mounting political friction following allegations by the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, regarding widespread “Vote Chori” (vote theft).
Congress claimed these allegations were substantiated by reports of internal dissent within the poll panel, where fellow Election Commissioners reportedly flagged procedural irregularities. At the centre of the party’s offensive is the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The MPCC alleged that over 3 crore eligible voters have been erased from Maharashtra’s electoral rolls under the SIR process. Nationwide, the party alleged 13 crore voters have been deprived of their rights.
Congress highlighted that while Maharashtra’s voter base expanded by 47 lakh electors before the 2024 Assembly elections, the Commission has not verified the current status of these newly added voters. Similar purges of legitimate voters were allegedly carried out in other non-BJP-ruled states, including West Bengal and Bihar.
“Deleting the names of legitimate, eligible voters from the electoral rolls is an outright assault on the Constitution. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s authoritarian conduct is a direct attack on Indian democracy,” MPCC president Harshwardhan Sapkal said in an official statement.
The agitation follows media reports revealing that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally recorded dissent on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months regarding decisions made during the SIR rollout.
–IANS
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