The Congress’s protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Friday provided a rare display of unity among the warring factions of the Punjab Congress, with most of the party’s senior state leaders joining the demonstration in Chandigarh.
Barring former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who cited a prior commitment, senior Punjab Congress leaders participated in the protest in Sector 17 and marched towards the office of the Punjab Election Commission. Punjab Congress affairs in-charge Sachin Pilot could not attend the protest as he was in Rajasthan.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, former Speaker Rana KP Singh, Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, and MLAs Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Pargat Singh and Kuldeep Singh Kala Dhillon, besides AICC co-treasurer Vijay Inder Singla, were among those who took part in the march.
The protesting leaders were stopped by the police and taken into preventive custody. Raising slogans of “Stop Vote Chori”, Warring demanded the removal of Kumar as CEC, registration of an FIR against him and his arrest. He alleged that evidence was emerging to suggest that the Election Commission was working in collusion with the BJP to manipulate elections.
“Vote chori is happening in this country. The BJP is forming governments with vote chori. The SIR process must be stopped,” Warring said. He alleged that what was being projected as electoral victories in states such as Haryana and Maharashtra was, in the Congress’s view, the result of manipulation of the electoral process.
“This has never happened in the history of our country. What is celebrated as an electoral victory is actually vote chori,” Warring said. Warring also alleged that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections had been manipulated and questioned the BJP’s victories in Haryana and Maharashtra, pointing to the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections held a few months earlier.
The Congress leader also opposed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Punjab, alleging that the exercise could disenfranchise genuine voters. He demanded that the process be scrapped and suggested that the next Punjab Assembly elections be conducted on the basis of the electoral rolls used for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Senior Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had been raising concerns over the functioning of the Election Commission and alleged collusion between the poll panel and the BJP for the past three years.
“The BJP and the Election Commission of India have been exposed before the citizens of the country,” Randhawa alleged, claiming that the credibility of the electoral process had been severely damaged.
He said restoring public confidence in the electoral system would take considerable time and argued that removing the incumbent CEC should be the first step towards restoring that credibility.
Randhawa said he had attended the protest despite suffering from viral fever because of the seriousness of the issue. Describing Kumar as the “real vote chor”, he said the Congress would continue its campaign to protect democracy and the Constitution.
Other senior Congress leaders, including Dharamvira Gandhi, Raj Kumar Verka and Balbir Singh Sidhu, also joined the demonstration. Singla demanded the immediate removal of the CEC and registration of a criminal case against him. The protest was part of the Congress’s nationwide campaign against what the party has described as the “subversion and sabotage” of the electoral process.
