New Delhi Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday described Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as a “mere pawn” and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were the “real beneficiaries” of what Congress has termed irregularities in the electoral process.
Baghel targets CEC over ‘vote theft’ allegations
Speaking to reporters, Baghel said the Congress leadership had decided to take its campaign against what it describes as electoral discrepancies directly to the public.
“Everything has been decided in the CWC (Congress Working Committee) meeting in the presence of Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi. We will fight this battle until this vote theft is stopped,” Baghel said.
“And he is merely a pawn. Gyanesh Kumar. He is just a pawn. Vote theft is being carried out through him. In reality, the beneficiaries are Modi and Shah. Our fight—while we are certainly fighting against Gyanesh Kumar—the main objective is to oust Modi,” he added.
Congress demands CEC resignation, SIR suspension
The remarks come days after the Congress Working Committee passed resolutions on September 29 demanding the immediate resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, suspension of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and restoration of 13 crore 30 lakh names that the party claims were removed from the rolls.
Congress has linked the issue to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of “Vote Chori” and raised concerns over electoral-roll additions and deletions, the Model Code of Conduct, EVMs and the process for appointing the CEC.
BJP rejects Congress allegations
The Bharatiya Janata Party has rejected Congress’ allegations, accusing the opposition party of undermining constitutional institutions and questioning the Election Commission instead of examining the reasons for its electoral defeats.
The Election Commission has maintained that differences of view within the poll panel are part of institutional deliberations and that its orders have full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
The political dispute over the SIR exercise and electoral-roll changes continues, with Congress pressing for greater transparency and the restoration of names it says were wrongly removed.