Kalaburagi, Karnataka: Addressing a public rally in Kalaburagi, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of undermining the country’s democratic institutions.
He said the opposition had long raised concerns about the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and transparency in the electoral process, but the ruling party had consistently ignored these legitimate questions.
Kharge, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, made a significant claim, stating that concerns were now being raised within the Election Commission itself regarding alleged vote manipulation, vote theft, and electoral data manipulation.
According to Kharge, two members of the Election Commission had formally expressed serious concerns in writing to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. However, despite these objections, no concrete action had been taken.
Kharge recalled that Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had strongly raised the issue of alleged vote theft in Maharashtra, Haryana, and the Aland and Mahadevapura Assembly constituencies in Karnataka.
He said Rahul Gandhi had presented these serious allegations to the public in detail, supported by facts and evidence, but neither the Election Commission nor the central government had paid adequate attention to them.
Kharge further claimed that this alleged negligence had prompted young people and ordinary citizens across the country to take to the streets and protest against what he described as the government’s dictatorial approach.
The Congress president also raised serious questions about the functioning and constitutional independence of the Election Commission in a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
He wrote that the Election Commission is an autonomous and independent constitutional body entrusted with the responsibility of making impartial decisions. However, he alleged that, under the current circumstances, the Commission was not being allowed to function independently.
Kharge further alleged that two senior members of the Election Commission had been silenced after raising concerns about alleged irregularities in its functioning.
He suggested that these actions were intended to allow the alleged practice of “vote theft” to continue unchecked. He also claimed that governments at the Centre and in several states had been formed through similar electoral irregularities.
The Congress president strongly objected to a law enacted in 2023 that provides legal protection, or immunity, to the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners in certain matters relating to the discharge of their official duties.
Kharge alleged that, through this legislation, the government had granted Election Commissioners legal protections that were not available even to the President of India or the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
He questioned why such exceptional legal safeguards were necessary for Election Commissioners and expressed concern about their potential impact on transparency and accountability.
Kharge further claimed that allegations of vote theft, EVM-related irregularities, and other electoral malpractices had increased significantly since these protections were introduced.
According to him, the legal framework had made it extremely difficult to hold the Chief Election Commissioner and other responsible officials accountable for alleged misconduct or errors.
Describing the situation as a profound betrayal of the voting rights of ordinary citizens and the country’s democratic principles, Kharge asserted that the Congress party and the entire INDIA alliance would continue their legal and political struggle against what he described as authoritarian governance.
He reiterated that protecting the independence of the Election Commission, ensuring transparency in elections, and safeguarding the democratic rights of every voter remained central to the opposition’s political agenda.
