Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has criticized the Centre’s election-linked exercises, including electoral roll revisions and delimitation, triggering a sharp political confrontation between Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah regarding electoral fairness.
Gaurav Gogoi Criticizes Centre’s Electoral Strategies
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Monday listed out a “package” of election-linked exercises, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll and proposed Delimitation of seats in the Lok Sabha, as he slammed the Centre. In an X post, Gogoi also flagged the electoral bonds, which allowed for anonymous donations to political parties and were struck down by the Supreme Court. He also accused the BJP of breaking opposition parties and making hate speeches during poll campaigns and also alleged “faulty” EVMs.
He wrote, “Modi- Shah – Election Commission of India package for people of India. 1) Delimitation – redrawing of constituency. 2) SIR – including fake and deleting genuine voters. 3) Electoral bonds – for corporate donors to get zero IT-ED raids. 4) Promote break-up of opposition parties and freeze symbols. 5) Transfer of Government officers – more you bend, the higher your promotion.”
“6) Legal protection for chief election commissioner. 7) Scheduling of election campaigns. 8) Model code of conduct – get away with most vile communal remarks and hate speech. 9) EVMs – faulty. 10) Scrutiny of candidates- disqualify opposition candidates,” the Congress leader added.
Opposition Agitation and Political Confrontation
This comes amid Opposition parties’ ongoing agitation against the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, and the SIR exercise. The INDIA bloc has demanded CEC’s resignation and a rollback of the SIR exercise. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, had challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an open debate on the SIR exercise.
However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has asked Gandhi to take up the issue in Parliament. “If you (Rahul Gandhi) wish to engage in a responsible discussion, if your concerns hold truth, substance, and logic, then come and discuss them inside Parliament. Let’s face each other head-on! But you won’t be able to handle the answers; as always, you will just run away,” Shah had said at a rally in Karnal, Haryana, as part of the BJP’s ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy’ campaign.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi replied, “Amit Shah ji, don’t confuse Modi ji. Just convince him to have an open debate with me. Any platform, any time. Don’t be afraid.”
Protests and Electoral Commission Directives
Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) activist Abhijeet Dipke also held a ‘Jantar Mantar at Kochi’ protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. On Friday, the Election Commission issued fresh instructions to the Chief Electoral Officers of Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland, providing another opportunity to voters marked under the ASDD category to get their names included in the final electoral rolls. (ANI)
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