Wayanad (Keralam), Sep 24 Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday demanded that CEC Gyanesh Kumar be criminally prosecuted for “treason”, alleging that he had intentionally allowed an “unfair election” by permitting around 13 crore names to be deleted from electoral rolls.
Speaking to reporters here, Vadra said anyone who “plays around” with the democratic process of elections was committing treason against the nation.
“That is our very clear stand. I do not think anybody in that position should have legal protection in the way that the Chief Election Commissioner has, if they have committed illegal acts,” the Congress MP from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency said.
She alleged that tampering with electoral rolls and deleting around 13 crore names from them was “a criminal act against democracy, against the Constitution and against the nation”.
She questioned why the CEC should have protection from prosecution if he had committed a criminal act.
“If he (CEC) has done an illegal act, he has been fully aware that this is happening under his nose, his colleagues have brought it to his attention, he has ignored it and intentionally allowed an unfair election to take place,” she said.
“He should be criminally prosecuted just like any other criminal, and he should be tried for treason. This is my very clear stand,” she said.
Later in the day, after visiting the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Model Residential School here, Vadra stepped up her attack on the CEC, demanding his resignation.
“He should resign, and criminal proceedings should be initiated if he has done everything that has come out,” she said.
The Congress MP said that if Kumar was aware that the elections were being rigged and participated in the alleged rigging despite the other two commissioners informing him that things were not right and that 13 crore voters had been removed from the rolls, it would amount to “a serious attack on our democracy”.
“It is an attack on our nation, and it is treason, and he should be tried for treason if that is what he was doing. That is my view. I believe that there should be no legal protection for people who act in this manner,” she said.
“There is no bigger assault on this nation and our Constitution than cheating in elections, and if it is being done institutionally, it is nothing short of treason,” she said.
Two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had red-flagged issues relating to the deletion of names under the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and raised objections to the decision-making process 14 times in the past few months, according to a report in The Indian Express.
The Election Commission, however, said differing views and observations were a normal part of deliberations in any institution and that all its orders “are an outcome of the unanimous decisions of the full Commission in the past one year”.
EC officials have also said the poll panel was unanimous in its decisions relating to the pan-India SIR of electoral rolls.
On Wednesday, Vadra had said that if Kumar was aware that elections were being “rigged” and allowed it to happen, it amounted to “treachery to the nation” and “an act of treason”.
She had also said that if voters’ lists had been manipulated and names deleted, those responsible should be held accountable.
(PTI News)
