New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday stepped up its attack on the Election Commission, saying public opposition to the alleged takeover of the electoral system was gaining momentum and warning that people would not accept “vote chori” under any circumstances,
PTI reported.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the INDIA bloc was united in its resolve to safeguard the Constitution and democratic institutions.
Ramesh referred to an interview given by former Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat to The Hindu, in which Rawat questioned the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged violations by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
“In an interview to a leading national daily, Former CEC O.P. Rawat has questioned the SIR and the violations committed by the ECI. It is ‘the first time since Independence that so many eligible voters have lost their vote’. Nearly 14 crore voters have already been disenfranchised by the SIR,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
He added, “India’s EC used to be ‘the gold standard’, but its credibility has been destroyed. In his (Rawat’s) view, the 2 ECs should have done more to stop the CEC’s illegal decisions.”
“The chorus of voices against the capture of the electoral system is getting louder,” Ramesh said, adding that citizens would not tolerate “vote chori” in any form.
In a separate post, Ramesh shared Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks concerning alleged “illegal” changes to Form 6. He claimed that the changes had been introduced by the Chief Election Commissioner in mid-July to delete Generation Z voters from electoral rolls.
“Form 6 changes were introduced by the CEC unconstitutionally in mid-July 2026 to remove Gen Z voters from the electoral roll. Clearly, the move was orchestrated by the PM-HM (Narendra Modi-Amit Shah) duo,” he said.
Rawat, while speaking to The Hindu, reportedly criticised the manner in which the SIR exercise had been conducted. He said the process represented the first instance since Independence in which such a large number of eligible voters had been deprived of their voting rights.
According to the former CEC, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi should have insisted on voting within the Commission to overturn decisions they opposed. Since the two commissioners formed the majority, Rawat said, the Chief Election Commissioner could not exercise a veto.
The Congress’ fresh allegations came a day after the opposition INDIA bloc announced plans for joint “Save Democracy” marches across all districts and five major rallies. The opposition parties also demanded that future elections be conducted using ballot papers and urged the Supreme Court to fast-track petitions concerning the SIR exercise and alleged electoral irregularities.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of leaders from 19 political parties, which continued for more than three-and-a-half hours. The opposition agreed that all its MPs would march to the Election Commission on October 6. Its leaders would also meet the President to draw attention to alleged anomalies in the revision of voter lists.
The INDIA bloc also discussed seeking Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and declared that it would continue its campaign until he was removed from office.
The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi had objected at least 14 times to SIR-related decisions issued without their knowledge or approval.
The Election Commission said differences within institutions are normal and maintained that its orders followed the law and due procedure.
