‘Turn approver’: Rahul Gandhi to CEC Gyanesh Kumar as he escalates ‘vote chori’ attack on PM, BJP

‘Turn approver’: Rahul Gandhi to CEC Gyanesh Kumar as he escalates ‘vote chori’ attack on PM, BJPAI Quick ReadCongress leader Rahul Gandhi on 24 September said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar were ‘deshdrohis’ (traitors) as they ‘destroyed’ India's vote.

The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha reiterated his demand seeking the immediate resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India. Rahul Gandhi also suggested that Kumar should turn approver, as that would be an act of nationalism.

Rahul Gandhi asserted that Modi and Shah would be investigated for what they have done to this country. Slamming Kumar, he said what the CEC has done is an act against the Indian nation. "This is an attack on the Constitution and the legal structure of the country.

You were supposed to ensure that the vote was protected. We have enough information to prove this with certainty. There are going to be consequences to this. We are not going to let democracy be destroyed and sit silent.

Those responsible will be punished," Gandhi said at a press conference at the Indira Bhawan in the national capital on Thursday. Rahul Gandhi's assertions came after The Indian Express revealed that questions were repeatedly raised on issues related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls within the three-member Election Commission (EC) by two of the three election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

The national rollout of the SIR has been under the supervision of all three commissioners. But Sandhu and Joshi have formally objected, on record, at least 14 times over the last 10 months, four times on a single day, to decisions taken and orders issued, they say, without their knowledge, according to the Indian Express report by Ritika Chopra.

The Indian Express report triggered a political row with the Congress party saying that Gyanesh Kumar has no right to stay in office and must resign. Many of the leaders also called for Kumar's removal and impeachment. The Election Commission of India, in its response to the Indian Express report, defended its decision-making process, saying that differing views and observations within an institution are a normal part of deliberation before a final decision is taken.

Rahul Gandhi said his suggestion to Kumar is that he should turn approver, as that would be an act of nationalism. "PM Modi and Home Minister Shah are both going to be investigated for what is being done. They are at the top of this conspiracy and they will be investigated for what they have done to this country," he said.

They are "deshdrohis" as they have destroyed the vote in the country's democracy, he said. Gandhi played out a few videos and asked people to listen to the tone of Modi and Shah. In the videos, Shah is heard saying the BJP will be in power for 30 years and the prime minister raising the slogan 'Abki Baar 400 Paar'.

No political leader who operates in a democratic environment can make such statements, Gandhi said. In India, there is a fundamental force called anti-incumbency which starts to resist and it does not spare anybody, he said.

"Indira Gandhi wins Bangladesh war and within a year or two, massive pressure mounts due to anti-incumbency. It happens to leader after leader. It does not happen to Modi, Shah and the BJP - now we know the answer to it," Gandhi said.

"We can understand the popularity of a person, the performance of a government but anti-incumbency completely disappearing? It does not exist in Iraq of Saddam Hussain and in North Korea," he argued. Vote is the foundation of our democracy, Gandhi said, adding that the vote protected by the EC protects the Constitution.

"If the vote has been destroyed then our Constitution has been destroyed, it no longer has the power. If the Constitution is destroyed laws are illegal and our institutions are meaningless," he said. The EC is the institutional protector of this vote and from there everything arises.

If the vote is destroyed Constitution is not functioning, laws are destroyed and institutions mean nothing, he said. Rahul Gandhi said he is 100 per cent certain that the assembly elections and Lok Sabha polls are rigged.

"From vote chori, comes kanoon chori and from that comes sanstha chori," he said.