Bengaluru, Oct 27 Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Tuesday demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that questions over the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls were going unanswered.
Priyank said the Congress had planned a protest against the SIR on November 1.
The party has opposed the exercise, alleging that people from certain communities are being deliberately excluded from the rolls.
He said concerns had been raised over Form 6, pre-printed bulk Form 7 applications, and deficiencies in the software and the ERONET (Electoral Roll Management) system, and that these shortcomings were becoming increasingly evident.
Form 6 is used to apply for inclusion in the electoral roll as a new voter.
Form 7 is used to raise objections to the inclusion of a name or seek the deletion of a name from the existing electoral roll.
“Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has gone missing, in the sense that he is not answering any questions. The other two Election Commissioners have clearly recorded their dissent in writing. We need answers on all these issues,” said Priyank, the son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Questioning the outcome of past Assembly elections, he asked whether the mandates secured by those who came to power in West Bengal and Bihar were genuine.
“Even RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that there cannot be a regime change or a change of government. Naturally, how can there be a change when the EVMs are yours, the voter lists are yours, the voters are yours and the Election Commissioner is yours? How is this democracy?” he asked.
Reiterating the party’s demand, Priyank said Gyanesh Kumar should resign.
(PTI News)
