New Delhi: Leaders of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Friday met President Droupadi Murmu and flagged the issue of its ‘vote chori‘ claims to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and repeal of all assembly polls held in the last two years, with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi saying he was ‘shocked’ that the President did not deny the ‘election theft’ charge.
After the meeting, Gandhi said the opposition leaders would go to the Supreme Court on Monday to meet Chief Justice Surya Kant and hand over a memorandum to him too, as they wanted to avail all options available.
A delegation of INDIA leaders met the president and handed over a memorandum to her on alleged ‘vote chori‘ while demanding suspension of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and restoration of 13.3 crore voters deleted illegally from the voter lists.
Key Demands and Allegations
In the memorandum submitted to President Murmu, the opposition parties also demanded the repeal of the 2023 law providing life-long immunity to the CEC and ECs, besides return to paper ballots for all future elections.
President Murmu sought proof of ‘vote chori‘ from the leaders and the INDIA will hand over the evidence it has to her when she is ready to accept it, Gandhi told reporters after the delegation comprising him, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’s Supriya Sule, Samajwadi Party’s Rajeev Rai, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Manoj Jha, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi chief Thol Thirumavalavan, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary M A Baby and Communist Party of India’s D Raja met her.
‘We approach you because, in moments when every other door has been closed, the people of India look to the Office of the President as the final guardian of that covenant. We appeal to your conscience, to your sense of justice, and to your abiding duty to the people of this Republic. Do not let their voice be silenced.
‘We expect you as President of our Republic to discharge your duty to protect the Constitution of India decisively,’ the two-page memorandum said.
Alleging that ‘vote chori‘ has destroyed the very foundation of our democracy, they said they had incontrovertible proof that theft of votes has taken place in election after election and cited the examples of Haryana, Maharashtra, MP, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal.
‘Democracy is being murdered in broad daylight. This is a crime against the nation and the Chief Election Commissioner has blatantly cheated and lied to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India to cover up this crime,’ the INDIA parties said.
‘We urge you, as the constitutional Head of the Republic, to take cognisance of this grave situation and use your good offices to ensure that the following demands are addressed without delay,’ they said.
Opposition’s Unified Stance
The INDIA MPs earlier met in the central hall of Samvidhan Sadan, where they deliberated on memorandum to be submitted to the President and finalised it.
They then moved from Parliament House to Vijay Chowk, where they were stopped by the police which had put up barricades.
They were carrying a big “Save Democracy” banner and raised slogans against the government, the prime minister and the CEC.
As senior leaders met the president, the MPs continued to raise slogans at Vijay Chowk.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Kharge said the INDIA bloc leaders sought a return to ballot paper instead of EVMs for future polls.
“The President asked for evidence of ‘vote chori‘ which we will provide,” he said.
