‘Won’t let you escape’: Rahul targets CEC Gyanesh Kumar, BJP mocks ‘public impeachment’
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s impeachment and trial for treason over alleged election rigging. The BJP dismissed the Opposition’s symbolic “public impeachment” programme as an exercise to satisfy the Congress leader.
At the INDIA bloc event in New Delhi, Gandhi accused Kumar of helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah undermine democracy. “We are not going to let you escape. I am saying this with love and affection; we are not nasty or evil people, but we will protect the Constitution and the voice of our people,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi demands CEC’s trial
Gandhi described the symbolic proceedings as a “political weapon” against Kumar, Modi and others he accused of damaging democratic institutions.
“Gyanesh Kumar should be impeached. Gyanesh Kumar should be tried. Gyanesh Kumar should be tried for treason,” he said. He said around 250 MPs had assembled in the garden of the Leader of the Opposition’s residence because institutional avenues were unavailable to them.
Questions over voter deletions
Gandhi claimed that the Special Intensive Revision had removed 13.1 crore voters, roughly 15 per cent of the electorate, from electoral rolls. He questioned how voters eligible to participate in the 2024 Lok Sabha election could now face exclusion.
“Either say these voters were legitimate and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were legitimate. Or say these are illegitimate voters, and then the 2024 Lok Sabha becomes illegitimate,” he said. Gandhi said the Opposition would take its campaign to Delhi’s streets on Sunday. He also warned that alleged election manipulation and misuse of investigating agencies would not last indefinitely.
BJP calls exercise mockery
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi accused Congress of staging the proceedings out of frustration. “Congress party, just in order to give solace to the sentiment of their maverick prince, Rahul Gandhi, is now creating a hallucination that he is there in the Parliament of his own choice by creating a mock parliament,” he said.
Trivedi cited World Bank poverty estimates to defend the government’s record. He said extreme poverty had dropped to 2.6 per cent, while the proportion living on less than USD 4.20 daily had fallen from 57.7 per cent in 2011 to 16 per cent. He said the NDA sought to remove poverty, while Congress remained focused on removing Modi.