New Delhi [India], October 5 (ANI): As opposition continues to target Chief Election Commisoner Gyanesh Kumar amid the row over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Dharmendra Yadav on Monday allged that no election had been fair under the supervision of the present CEC.
The SP leader's comment comes ahead of the proposed opposition march from Parliament House to the Election Commission on Tuesday.
Asked about the upcoming 2027 Uttar Pradesh elections, Yadav said, "Under their supervision, has any election ever been fair? You tell me, weren't questions raised in Bengal? You tell me, weren't questions raised in Bihar? Weren't questions raised in Delhi? Or didn't the people of Maharashtra raise questions? Didn't the people of Haryana raise questions? Or inside Uttar Pradesh, in all the by-elections that have taken place after 2024, if even a single election happened in our favor, then tell me."
When asked about the the number of seats won by the party during Lok Sabha 2024 elections, Yadav said the party's performance came fromm the public and was not a "favour" from Gyanesh Kumar
He further claimed, "Five of our seats were defeated in counting during the last Lok Sabha elections. Despite this, we won 43 in the alliance, out of which the Samajwadi Party alone won 37. If there hadn't been cheating, 43 Samajwadi Party candidates would have won alone, and our alliance would have won nearly 48 seats."
Asked what issues the opposition planned to raise at the protest, Yadav said, "There's no need to ask about the issues anymore because the people of the entire country now have faith in the Chief Election Commissioner of India, Gyanesh Gupta."
He said that opposition has been raising the matter for a long time. "We, the Samajwadi people or the people of the India Alliance, our leader Akhilesh ji, and people from other opposition parties have been continuously raising these issues, but Gyanesh Gupta ji is busy in the devotion of the government. Still, I can say that in a democracy, no one can suppress the voice of the people beyond a limit," he said.
He added, "All those who believe in democracy, who believe that the real strength lies within democracy, such people will make Gyanesh Gupta resign, no matter how many ways of struggle are required, it will be done."
Hitting back at the BJP, Yadav reffered to the present selection committee for CEC.
"The misuse of constitutional institutions is being done by the Bharatiya Janata Party. And speaking of constitutional institutions, I want to ask the people of the Bharatiya Janata Party, don't they even trust the Chief Justice of India? The old provision for the appointment of Gyanesh Gupta or the Election Commission included the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India, and the Leader of the Opposition. Now what law have they made today? Under this law, they removed the Chief Justice of India. So I want to ask, who actually doesn't have faith in the country's constitution and constitutional institutions?" he said.
He said claimed that "if anyone is misusing every constitutional institution of the country and trying to make them puppets, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party."
Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced a nationwide protest programme, saying INDIA bloc leaders would hold a "Save Democracy March" at the district level from October 2 to October 8 after the INDIA bloc coordination meeting at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on September 30. He said opposition MPs would march to the Election Commission on October 6, while opposition leaders would meet President Droupadi Murmu in the second week of October to raise concerns over alleged institutional issues.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged it was "established beyond doubt" that CEC Gyanesh Kumar had changed Form 6 "illegally and unilaterally," after the Supreme Court clarified that it had not approved any modified version of Form 6, used for enrolling new voters in electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The petition relied on a report claiming that 14 crucial SIR-related decisions were taken in the name of the ECI despite objections recorded by the two other Election Commissioners. Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for one of the petitioners, Rakesh Kumar Singh, sought immediate suspension of the CEC, contending that the alleged unilateral decisions posed a serious threat to electoral democracy. Referring to Section 18 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, Singh submitted that ECI decisions were required to be unanimous or, failing that, taken by majority. (ANI)
"Has any election ever been fair under him": SP MP Dharmendra Yadav attacks CEC, says "will make him resign" ahead of Opposition's march to ECI
