New Delhi, Sep 23 Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday demanded that the entire SIR exercise be cancelled and that the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should immediately be arrested.
Kumar was running the Election Commission on his own, making the entire process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) carried out across the country “illegal”, Kejriwal claimed, citing an Indian Express report that two Election Commissioners had objected to the Election Commission’s steps 14 times in 10 months amid the voter roll clean-up exercise.
“For several months, meetings of the Election Commission have not been taking place, while Gyanesh Kumar has continued issuing orders on his own. Therefore, the entire SIR process, through which 13 crore names have been deleted across the country, is illegal because the Election Commission has not officially approved it,” he said in a press conference.
“So today, we demand that the entire SIR process be cancelled, that all changes made under SIR be cancelled, and that the voter list from three years ago be restored,” the AAP chief said.
Kumar should be arrested and a case of sedition should be registered against him, he added.
As per the Indian Express story, Kumar has been running the Election Commission on his own for the last few years, he claimed.
“Both the Election Commissioners — Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have repeatedly submitted written complaints that orders are being issued to officers below them without the approval or authorisation of the Election Commission,” Kejriwal said.
“There cannot be a bigger scam in this country than this. If the entire voter list is being prepared from the Election Commission’s central office, and if the voter list is not being prepared by the ERO or by the SDM, then the voter list of the entire country has effectively become compromised,” he added.
In the wake of the Indian Express report, EC officials said the two commissioners had flagged decisions taken during the poll roll cleanup and handling of the voter database in various states.
EC sources maintained that all decisions of the Election Commission of India, including SIR, have been unanimous and with the approval of both the Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner.
(PTI News)
