Opposition parties on Wednesday revived their demand to replace electronic voting machines (EVMs) with paper ballots and announced a six-point programme—ranging from public rallies to petition to President—to target chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Preparing for the next phase of political battle over the special intensive revision, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) accused the CEC and the government of manipulating voter rolls during SIR to subvert electoral integrity and alleged that Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah were treating the election commission as their puppets. The Opposition had demanded replacing EVMs with ballot papers during Modi’s first and second terms, but the issue had fizzled out in the past few years. He also called for reversing recent election law amendments. “Modi and Shah are treating the election commission of India as their puppet. Nineteen Opposition parties and independent MP Kapil Sibal attended the meeting at Constitution Club. In June, the parties also planned to write to the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on SIR-related issues.
A Congress leader said it was a reference to the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants legal immunity to the CEC and election commissioners. They are winning elections by deceit,” Kharge said, comparing the SIR deletions to the 2016 high-value currency ban. Three months ago, 21 Opposition parties had met at the same venue to demand resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over paper leaks.
“Everyone has decided to fight together in a united manner,” declared Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge after a three-and-a-half-hour strategy session. He confirmed that all participating leaders “100% agreed that instead of EVMs, paper ballots should be used”. “First, Modi did notebandi; now he is doing vote bandi to rob citizens of their rights,” Kharge said. “Leaders of Opposition will seek appointment from President of India to give a representation on our problems and against the chori ki sarkar (govt with a stolen mandate),” Kharge added.
Kharge lauded party leader Rahul Gandhi for his campaign, saying people earlier didn’t believe allegations of vote theft but now everyone realised that he was right.
