New Delhi

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday took a swipe at the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, calling him a "puppet" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Speaking at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held in New Delhi today, Kharge accused the Modi government of systematically and conspiratorially hollowing out the democratic foundations over the past 12 years.

"The Modi government has systematically and conspiratorially hollowed out the strong democratic foundation that our forefathers built through their sacrifices and dedication over the last 12 years," he said.

"Names are being removed from voter lists through calculated conspiracies, and the Chief Election Commissioner has become a puppet of the Modi government. This runs counter to the ethos and spirit of Indian democracy, which mandates that every eligible citizen's vote be secure and every vote be counted impartially," he added

Ciitng Babasaheb Ambedkar, he underlined that Universal franchise is the most fundamental element of a democracy and that no voter should be excluded due to the prejudice or whim of an officer.

"On June 15, 1949, in the Constituent Assembly, Babasaheb Ambedkar stated: 'Franchise is a most fundamental thing in a democracy. No person who ought to be included in the voter list under our Constitution should be excluded due to the prejudice of a local government or the whim of an officer'," he said.

He said that Babasaheb Ambedkar had asserted that names should not be deleted at the mere discretion of an officer. Yet today, officers are arbitrarily deleting names at the behest of the BJP and the Modi government.

He noted that Jawaharlal Nehru and Babasaheb understood that without democratic participation, the voices of the poor and marginalized would go unheard. That is why they strongly advocated for granting the right to vote to every adult citizen of India.

“During the debates in the Constituent Assembly, Babasaheb Ambedkar described the right to vote as the most fundamental element of democracy. But today, the opposite is happening. The protector has turned into the predator. The very person whom the Constitution empowered and entrusted as the guardian of the people's vote has become a plunderer of those votes. How can the nation place its trust in a Chief Election Commissioner whom even his own colleagues do not trust?” he questioned.

"Our questions are not intended to weaken these institutions; we want the Election Commission to be so strong and credible that both the ruling party and the opposition have equal trust in its decisions. The independence of the Election Commission is one of the first conditions for the security of democracy. But is it wrong to ask who took the decision of SIR? Is it wrong to ask why two Election Commissioners were kept out of the Internal Portal? Was something secretive going on," Kharge added. 

Kharge underlined 5 demands that the party had: 

Complete data on every major change in the voter list must be made public, voters whose names have been removed must be given full information and an opportunity to appeal, political parties must be provided with the voter list and all related essential data in a simple format in a timely manner, wherever evidence of serious discrepancies comes to light, there must be an independent and time-bound investigation and transparency in the crucial data and decisions related to the election process that no party gets the chance to claim that information is being hidden.

Kharge said that with elections in five states in 2027 , it is essential to ensure that no voter's right is violated. The Congress President said that the party must ensure that every person's vote is secure, elections are fair, so that the common people's trust in India's election process remains intact. 

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The Congress party has been vociferous in its protest against the Chief Election Commissioner especially in light of a report that cited divisions withing the commission over the SIR process. On Wednesday. the Congress and other opposition parties will meet and decide a joint strategy to take this protest further.