General
12h ago EN
Rahul Gandhi Vows CEC Gyanesh Kumar Will Be Jailed at INDIA Bloc Rally
The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, declared on Sunday that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would be removed from office and sent to jail, as he accused the poll body chief of enabling vote theft across the country during a mega rally of the INDIA bloc at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. Speaking before a large gathering of opposition leaders and supporters, Gandhi said action against the CEC was inevitable and claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah owed their present positions to him. "Listen to me. What I say always turns out to be true, doesn't it? I am telling every citizen and every youth of India: Gyanesh Kumar will be removed from the post of Chief Election Commissioner. Gyanesh Kumar will go to jail. Without Gyanesh Kumar, neither Narendra Modi would have become Prime Minister nor Amit Shah would have become Home Minister," he said. The Congress leader then turned to the distress of farmers, young people and workers, alleging that they were being denied their due while the nation's wealth was being cornered by a handful of individuals. "The farmer is not getting his rights. The youth are not getting employment. The labourer is not getting his rights, and the entire wealth has gone into the hands of two or three people. We do not want such an India, and we will not accept such an India," he added. Gandhi also alleged that the ballot had been tampered with in several assembly elections as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, claiming that manipulation was carried out through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and alterations to the electoral rolls. "For years, vote theft has been happening in this country. Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, in all these elections, vote theft has occurred. Votes have been stolen through EVMs and by deleting and adding names to voter lists," he said. He further claimed that 15 per cent of the country's voters were struck off the rolls after the 2024 general election, which he described as illegal and stolen. "It was a stolen election. I am not the one saying this; the Election Commission is saying this," he said. The rally, organised against the CEC and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, drew top INDIA bloc leaders, among them Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Opposition leaders and supporters from different parts of the country converged on the capital for the "Chalo Delhi" protest march, voicing concern over the SIR exercise and alleged irregularities in the voter lists. The march set off from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction and made its way to Ramlila Maidan. It came a day after a public "impeachment" programme against the CEC was held in the capital on October 31.