In a scathing attack on the BJP, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the ruling party committed the "biggest anti-national act" by engaging in "vote chori" in collusion with the Election Commission, which, he said, undermines the very idea of India. Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Lok Sabha today, the Leader of Opposition posed three questions which he said make it clear that the BJP is “directing and using” the Election Commission to damage India’s democracy. 

Gandhi asked why is it that the Chief Justice of India was removed from the selection panel for appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners. He also questioned why Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were so keen on determining who would hold the position of Election Commissioner. “No prime minister has done this in history of India that on December 2023, this government changed the law to make sure no election commissioner is punished for any action they take while in office,” he said.

Gandhi further questioned as to why the law was changed to allow destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days. He said that the consequence of these actions was that a set of election campaigns were tailored for the Indian PM and “a Brazilian woman” appears 22 times on the voters’ list of Haryana. The election of Haryana was stolen and theft was ensured by the Election Commission of India, he said. 

“The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote ‘chori’.  Because when you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country, you destroy modern India, you destroy the idea of India. Those across the aisle are doing an anti-national act,” Gandhi said, gesturing towards the BJP lawmakers. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)