Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Sunday warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah that they would face legal action over alleged electoral manipulation, saying Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar would be removed from office first and that the Opposition would then pursue the two leaders.
Addressing the INDIA bloc’s ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ rally at Ramlila Maidan, Gandhi said the Opposition would not allow democracy to be destroyed in the country and asserted that Kumar’s removal was the first step towards putting the country back on the right track.
Responding to Shah’s recent remark that Modi was not going anywhere, Gandhi said the Prime Minister would not be allowed to escape accountability. “He will not be allowed to run anywhere. After Gyanesh Kumar, we will come for you. Action will be taken. You can’t run anywhere,” he said, warning Modi and Shah.
Gandhi accused the Election Commission of facilitating electoral manipulation and alleged that votes had been stolen through electronic voting machines and changes to electoral rolls. He claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and several Assembly elections, including those in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, had been affected by electoral irregularities.
Referring to the deletion of names from electoral rolls, Gandhi claimed that around 13.5 crore voters had been removed after the 2024 general elections, representing nearly 15 per cent of the electorate. He contrasted this with the three-percentage-point difference between the NDA and Opposition vote shares in the Lok Sabha elections to argue that the alleged deletions raised serious questions about the electoral process.
“This is not the voice of one political party or one leader. This is the voice of India’s youth, farmers and labourers,” Gandhi said, adding that no individual or institution was above the Constitution. He also alleged that the Election Commission’s actions had undermined the democratic rights of citizens.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, who addressed the gathering before Gandhi, accused Modi and Shah of attempting to deprive Dalits, women and young people of their voting rights.
He alleged that the BJP had formed governments at the Centre and in several States through electoral manipulation. Kharge said the Opposition would continue its agitation until Kumar left office and asserted that removing Modi was necessary to protect democracy. He also warned that the Opposition would not be intimidated by central investigative agencies.
Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav targeted the BJP over alleged deletions from electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh. He claimed that 1.27 crore Hindu voters had been removed from the State’s electoral rolls and said the BJP had begun raising concerns only after realising that its own supporters could also be affected. Yadav accused the ruling party of wanting only its supporters to remain voters and citizens, and called on people to resist what he described as electoral manipulation.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also attacked the Election Commission, alleging that her State had been particularly affected by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. She accused the poll panel of interfering with the electoral process and said the Opposition would fight to restore democratic rights. Banerjee also appealed to the judiciary and the media to play an active role in protecting democratic institutions.
The rally was organised as part of the INDIA bloc’s campaign against alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and to demand Kumar’s resignation. Several Opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Tejashwi Yadav, Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, attended the gathering. Before reaching Ramlila Maidan, leaders and supporters marched from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction.
The BJP rejected the Opposition’s allegations. Party spokesperson Sambit Patra attacked Gandhi over his remarks on the 2024 elections, accusing him of trying to undermine democratic institutions because he cannot accept electoral defeats. The party maintained that the Opposition was manufacturing allegations to discredit the Election Commission.
Shah, meanwhile, criticised the INDIA bloc for holding its rally on November 1, the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He accused the Congress of being insensitive towards the victims and their families and questioned Gandhi’s political ambitions.
The demand for Kumar’s removal also faces a constitutional hurdle. Under Article 324(5) of the Constitution, the Chief Election Commissioner can be removed only through the same procedure and on the same grounds as a Supreme Court judge. This requires a parliamentary address supported by a special majority in both Houses.
The Opposition, however, has indicated that its campaign against the Election Commission will continue, with the removal of Kumar remaining its principal demand.
Your turn to become PM won’t come: Shah
New Delhi/Chandigarh: The BJP, led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, mounted a fierce counter-attack against Rahul Gandhi, saying the Congress and INDIA bloc held the rally on November 1, “rubbing salt in the wounds” of victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Shah also took a jibe at the Congress leader, saying, ‘Your turn to become PM won’t come.’ The BJP claimed the Opposition rally was a flop.
The ruling party also organised Loktantra Bachao, Arajakata Hatao (Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy) rallies in some states and a march in Delhi’s Hari Nagar area on Sunday to protest against the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri led the march, joined by various Sikh organisations.
Opening the barrage against Rahul Gandhi, Shah trained guns on Rahul Gandhi, saying his rally in Delhi on the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots can only “rub salt in the wounds of the victims”.
The Home Minister was addressing a gathering in Chandigarh after the inauguration and foundation-stone laying ceremony of various development projects worth `258 crore.
“Rahul Gandhi’s November 1 ‘jalsa’ in Delhi will only rub salt in the wounds of anti-Sikh riot victims,” Shah said. Attacking the Congress over the riots, Shah said that thousands were killed in the riots. “The day the Sikh genocide happened, on that very day, they had to hold a rally,” Shah said. He said the only takeaway from Rahul Gandhi’s mohabbat ki dukaan was holding a rally on such a dark day.
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, Shah said, “If you want to become PM, stay in mock parliament your entire life. Your turn won’t come.” “Telling lies, spreading anarchy, not letting Parliament function, this is your ‘fitrat’ (true nature),” Shah said of the Opposition.
The remarks came a day after the INDIA bloc carried out a symbolic “public impeachment” of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The Home Minister, meanwhile, said that on November 1, 1984, thousands of Sikhs were brutally murdered in Delhi during the anti-Sikh riots. “Thousands of Sikhs were burnt alive. Many Sikhs had to leave their homes, many children were orphaned, many sisters were widowed, and homes of many were burnt,” said Shah.
“And the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi gave a statement, and I saw that on TV, and I cannot forget that for the rest of my life. He had said when a big tree falls, the earth shakes,” he said. After the murder of thousands of Sikhs, only Congress leaders can make such a remark, Shah added.
He said when Narendra Modi’s Government came to power in 2014, it reopened all the cases of all those who indulged in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the next of kin of each person killed in the riots was given, while prominent leaders of the Congress were put behind bars. Shah added, “India has never witnessed, nor will it ever witness, riots of this kind, incited by a political party.”
Separately, BJP leader and Sambalpur MP Dharmendra Pradhan participated in the party’s ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao’(Save Democracy, End Anarchy) padayatra in Faridabad on Sunday, where he targeted Rahul Gandhi and the Congress.
Pradhan was accompanied by Union Minister of State Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State Rajesh Nagar, Haryana Sports Minister Gaurav Gautam, several MLAs and party workers during the march, organised as part of the BJP’s nationwide campaign.
Addressing the gathering, Pradhan alleged that the Congress and Rahul Gandhi had lost faith in democracy, the Constitution, Parliament and the Election Commission.
Union minister JP Nadda also criticised the protest, saying it is not an “act of respect” for democracy but a “conspiracy” to plunge the nation into anarchy.
He also accused Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi of showing little concern for small traders and business people during the festive season, saying the Opposition had not deferred the rally despite repeated appeals by the traders’ body.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also accused the Congress and Rahul Gandhi of being part of a larger conspiracy, allegedly backed by foreign funding, to bring down the country’s elected government.
“The Congress, under Indira Gandhi’s leadership, was the first to subvert the Constitution, the judiciary and democracy in the country… Those who shout ‘vote chori’ have themselves committed ‘Samvidhan chori’. They are the real Constitution thieves,” Fadnavis added after attending the ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakata Hatao’ (Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy) march organised by the BJP in different parts of the country on Sunday.
BJP president Nitin Nabin in Rohtak accused the Opposition of trying to undermine constitutional institutions after suffering electoral defeats.