'Legal changes were made to protect CEC Gyanesh Kumar': Tejashwi Yadav says as INDIA Bloc meets over SIR

New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, on Wednesday alleged large-scale irregularities in elections and accused the authorities of changing laws to protect Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, as the INDIA Bloc met in New Delhi to discuss the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and concerns over the Election Commission and exclusion of voters. 

“Given the scale of rigging that has taken place throughout the elections, and as revealed by the two Election Commissioners who raised questions, this meeting is being held to address that. If you look at all the elections that have taken place, it has all been fraudulent,” Yadav said.

He further alleged that legal changes were made to protect the Chief Election Commissioner.

“To protect the Election Commissioner, to protect Gyanesh Kumar, the laws were changed beforehand. First, the Chief Justice was excluded from the selection process. After that, the period for preserving voting records, which used to be one year, has been reduced to 45 days, simply to erase evidence,” he said.

The INDIA Bloc meeting is being held at the Constitution Club in New Delhi, with Opposition parties discussing the SIR exercise and their concerns over the functioning of the Election Commission.

CPI(M) General Secretary, M.A. Baby, earlier in the day said the meeting would focus on the continuation of Gyanesh Kumar as Chief Election Commissioner and ways to build a wider campaign against him.

“As you could also guess, it is the continuation of Gyanesh Kumar, who has tampered with the process of working of the Election Commission. How he can be immediately removed from the position of the Chief Election Commissioner, and how the agitation under the banner of the INDIA Bloc can be taken forward, while independent agitations and activities would be permissible by various political groups,” Baby said.

He highlighted the Left parties’ ongoing protests and said the issue would be discussed at the INDIA Bloc meeting.

“For example, the five Left parties, our agitation is still continuing. Yesterday, we had an agitation in front of Nirvachan Sadan. Up to October 2, we have given a call for nationwide agitation. In this meeting, we will discuss how these various agitational movements can be harnessed towards achieving the goal,” he said.

Meanwhile, National Conference MLA Nazir Ahmad Gurezi said the central issue before the Opposition alliance was the SIR exercise and concerns surrounding the Election Commission.

“The INDIA Bloc meeting is about the SIR. There is no doubt that a very serious allegation has been made, and it has not been made by an outsider…”, Gurezi said.

He said public confidence in the poll body was essential for the functioning of democracy.

“If the Election Commission of this country is biased or does not function in the manner it should, people’s trust in it will be lost, and once that trust is lost, faith in democracy will also be lost,” he said.

--IANS

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