'We have hundreds of examples of vote theft...': Mallikarjun Kharge lists 6 charges against CEC at 'public impeachment'

The INDIA bloc on Saturday began its "public impeachment" of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at 10 Rajaji Marg, the residence of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

This exercise comes just a day before the Opposition's 'Dilli Chalo' rally against the CEC, scheduled to be held at Ramlila Maidan, and follows allegations of vote theft during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

In his statement at the mock Parliament trial, Kharge alleged that the SIR vote theft was the latest in a series of conspiracies hatched by the ruling BJP-led NDA alliance since 2014.

"We have hundreds of examples of such vote theft. Gyanesh Kumar is able to facilitate this theft due to the 2023 Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act. This bill was passed in December 2023 after suspending 145 opposition MPs. It is shameful and a disgrace," the Rajya Sabha Opposition leader said.

Kharge informed Meira Kumar—the Congress leader and ex-Lok Sabha Speaker presiding over the programme—of the Opposition's six charges against the CEC, which includes allegations of stealing the elections by deleting 13.2 crore voters after the SIR, amending Form 6 (for first-time voters), "shutting out" the other two Election Commissioners (ECs), and acting at the behest of PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Notably, the charge about Form 6 comes days after the Election Commission told the Supreme Court in a 15-point counter-affidavit that it had neither amended Form 6, nor did it have the power to do so, but admitted how it was presented online could have paved the way for misconceptions.

It had also added that the CEC could only be removed like a Supreme Court judge, due to which the Opposition's plea against the poll body was not maintainable.

Kharge also reiterated that the "public impeachment" of the CEC was taking place because 193 Opposition MPs had moved a motion in both Houses of the Parliament to remove the CEC earlier this year, but their notices were rejected and no cognisance was taken of them.

"We hold no personal grudge against the CEC. Our intention is for the Election Commission to function impartially," he added at the session.

However, these claims came just a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared that the BJP had been ready for a special Parliament session to discuss the vote theft claims, but that the Opposition had not been interested.

"I challenge Rahul (Gandhi) and Akhilesh (Yadav). The BJP is ready to discuss every allegation inside Parliament ... They refuse to let Parliament function; instead, they just create a ruckus," he told party workers in Lucknow, dismissing the allegations.