Calling for an apology from Rahul Gandhi over “creating confusion in the minds of people” over the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa on Sunday said that there needs to be “introspection” from Rahul Gandhi over how the Congress is rejected multiple times by the people.
“In 2014, you (Congress) lost the election when the Manmohan Singh-appointed Election Commission was there… Rahul Gandhi should introspect on why people are rejecting the Congress party again and again. There is no introspection. They will not go to a state where they lost. They will not analyze the reason why they have lost. Whenever you lose an election, you start blaming EVMs,” Sarma told ANI.
Commenting on the upcoming meeting of the INDIA bloc, Sarma said that this is just an alliance of “defeated, frustrated people” and the bloc only looks to “weaken democracy”.
“The INDI alliance is nothing but an alliance of defeated people, frustrated people. They, their only idea is to weaken the democracy of this country. So their meeting is not going to cut any ice with the people of India,” he said.
He also called for Rahul Gandhi to apologise for creating “confusion in the minds of people”, saying that the matter has been cleared after the Election Commission clarified that the whole SIR was a unanimous decision of the poll body.
“Now, it is time for Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party to apologize to the people of India… You have repeatedly attacked the Election Commission, claiming that the Chief Election Commissioner has taken decisions unilaterally. But yesterday, the full commission, in a single frame, declared that all decisions were taken unanimously,” Sarma told ANI.
“Then why have you tried to create confusion in the minds of people? What was your basis? Why did you attack the EC? So Rahul Gandhi is attacking institution after institution… Before Gyanesh Kumar, he lost 90 elections,” he said.
The controversy intensified following a report by Indian Express that said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections multiple times over decisions and procedures related to the SIR exercise.
Opposition parties, including Congress, CPI, CPI(M), Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), have called for the CEC’s resignation. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also accused Kumar of “match-fixing elections” while citing a report related to the poll body.
The Election Commission of India (ECI), however, rejected the allegations and said all decisions related to the schedule of the SIR of electoral rolls were taken with the “unanimous approval of the Commission”.
The ECI has maintained that the SIR process was conducted as per established procedures and that decisions related to it were taken with the approval of all members of the Commission.