'From vote chori comes kanoon chori': Rahul Gandhi attacks CEC
What's the story
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has slammed Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government over alleged electoral irregularities after the Indian Express reported that two of its commissioners objected 14 times over 10 months to poll panel decisions taken without their knowledge. Gandhi said from "vote chori comes kanoon chori," adding that if votes are stolen, any laws made by those elected through such means are also illegal.
Voter protection
Gandhi blames EC for not protecting voters' rights
Gandhi held the Election Commission (EC) responsible for not protecting voters' rights. He said if votes are compromised, the Constitution can't function properly.
"There is already more than enough information to make this 100% certainty, not 99%, 100% certainty that Indian elections, Lok Sabha elections, 2024 election, Vidhan Sabha elections are all being rigged," Gandhi said.
He questioned why anti-incumbency, which usually affects Congress and regional parties, seems to be absent in polls after PM Narendra Modi came to power.
Election rigging
Gandhi says anti-incumbency should be visible in elections
Gandhi cited former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's popularity after the 1971 Bangladesh war as an example of how anti-incumbency usually sets in.
"In India, there is a fundamental force called anti-incumbency...It does not spare anybody. Indira Gandhi won the Bangladesh war, was at the height of her popularity, and then suddenly, within a year or two, massive anti-incumbency, massive pressure. The same exact thing happens to leader after leader....but for some reason, it never happens to Mr. Narendra Modi."
Political patterns
Why BJP leaders are immune to anti-incumbency: Gandhi
Gandhi cited electoral swings in states like Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat as proof of changing political patterns.
"This has been a fundamental question for us. We can understand the popularity of a person, and the performance of a government, but we cannot understand how anti-incumbency disappears. Anti-incumbency does not exist in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It does not exist in North Korea," he said.
Proof presented
Vote is the foundation of India, says Gandhi
Gandhi said the vote is the foundation of India and the EC is its institutional protector.
"If the vote has been destroyed, then our constitution has been destroyed...If our constitution has been destroyed, our laws are illegal. If our laws are illegal, our institutions are meaningless," he argued.
He said the central question here is, "Is it not just an attack on the vote but an attack on the idea, the basic infrastructure, and the expression" of every single citizen.