New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Wednesday batted for the pre-SIR electoral roll to be used for future elections and voting through ballots instead of EVMs, as he stressed on unity in the opposition INDIA bloc with a joint action plan.
In his opening remarks at the INDIA bloc meeting, Kharge asserted that the opposition group will not allow transparency to be replaced by secrecy.
“And we will not allow the fundamental principle of our Republic — one person, one vote, one value — to be weakened,” he said at the meeting attended by TMC’s Mamata Banerjee and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav among others.
Kharge asserted that the ballot belongs to the people, and the mandate belongs to the people.
“So the power of government ultimately rests in the hands of the people,” he said.
“Our task today is to ensure that the people of India remain the final and unquestioned authority in our democracy,” Kharge said.
He suggested that the INDIA bloc should demand that the pre-SIR electoral roll to be used for future elections.
INDIA parties must also demand “complete transparency” in every electoral-roll revision, including constituency-wise and booth-wise information on additions, deletions and corrections, he said.
Kharge also called for due notice, reasons and an effective appeal mechanism before any legitimate voter is removed from the roll.He also said the parties must call for protection of eligible voters from exclusion caused by administrative failures, inadequate documentation or lack of awareness.
While batting for voting through ballots instead of EVMs, he said there should be simple and accessible voter registration for young citizens, particularly first-time voters.
Kharge also stressed on institutional accountability and an Election Commission that commands confidence across the political spectrum.
“The INDIA parties must stand together when the fundamental democratic right of citizens is at stake. We should therefore leave this meeting with a clear programme of action,” he said.
Former Congress chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal and leaders from parties such as the SP, CPI, CPI(M), NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), among others, were present at the meeting.
The meeting comes days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.