- Akhilesh Yadav accused the Election Commission of facilitating vote theft and acting as puppets
- Rahul Gandhi demanded Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged bias
- Gandhi questioned the disappearance of anti-incumbency against BJP leaders in multiple states
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav added his voice to ally Congress's senior leader Rahul Gandhi to slam the Election Commission, saying they act like "puppets". The officials, he added, have been facilitating vote theft.
"If the vote of this generation had not been stolen, the Samajwadi government would have been formed in 2022," he told reporters.
"The entire secret of the Election Commission has been exposed and they are working like puppets... Such a terrible thing would never have happened in a democracy," he added.
"Inhone chunav Noucha (they have snatched away the election, they are poll snatchers (Chunav Nochwa) we have seen," Yadav said. "Given such serious allegations, the Chief Election Commissioner should step down voluntarily. It has become clear that dishonesty was being orchestrated from there-forging signatures, improperly removing names, adding new names, and functioning as a puppet for the Bharatiya Janata Party," he added.
At a press conference in Delhi today, Rahul Gandhi had demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, calling him a "traitor".
Pointing to statements by Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the BJP would remain in power for 30 years and that the NDA would cross 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi said no political leader could be this confident.
Pointing to anti-incumbency faced by every leader sooner or later, he said, "for some reason, it does not happen to PM Modi, Amit Shah and the BJP".
"Haryana swings from one party to another for 50 years, but suddenly anti-incumbency disappears. Maharashtra swings; suddenly that disappears. Uttar Pradesh swings from the Samajwadi Party to the Bahujan Samaj Party - that also disappears. And this has been a fundamental question for us... we cannot understand how anti-incumbency disappears," he said.
Calling for the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, Gandhi said what he has done is an act against the Indian nation. "This is an attack on the Constitution of India... We are not going to let democracy be destroyed in India and remain silent," he had added.
Gandhi's comment came following reports of internal dissent in the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists. The Indian Express has reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised questions about the process but their concerns went unheard. The Commission, though, has said that such comments are normal during a discussion.
The BJP has described Gandhi as a "frustrated leader who is not able to win people's support through democratic means".
"Loktantra ki chor Congress is frustrated as the Gandhi-Vadra family is democratically made to sit in the Opposition by the people of India," said BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari.
