PTI
New Delhi
Leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc on Friday met President Droupadi Murmu and flagged the issue of its “vote chori” claims to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and repeal of all assembly polls held in the last two years, with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi saying he was “shocked” that the President did not deny the ‘election theft’ charge.
The BJP, however, rejected as a “lie” Rahul Gandhi’s claim that the President did not deny the “election theft” charge and “accepted” what the INDIA bloc delegation stated during their meeting with her, and accused the Congress leader of playing “malicious politics”.
Terming Gandhi’s claim “unfortunate and bizarre”, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “He is lying.”
“His claim that the President has accepted his allegations demonstrates the malicious cycle Rahul Gandhi has been orchestrating, turning every constitutional body into a victim of his politics. It now appears that he has crossed all limits,” he told reporters. Trivedi said that only “someone” other than the INDIA bloc delegation could reveal what actually transpired in the meeting.
“The way Rahul Gandhi spoke, the body language and facial expressions of the leaders standing beside him clearly suggested that what was being said likely bore no relation to the truth. Rahul Gandhi’s past track record also reflects this pattern,” the BJP Rajya Sabha MP said. Gandhi’s claim not only “seems strange” but also reeks more of politics than truth, he added.
After the meeting, Gandhi said the Opposition leaders would go to the Supreme Court on Monday to meet Chief Justice Surya Kant and hand over a memorandum to him too, as they wanted to avail all options available.
A delegation of INDIA bloc leaders met the president and handed over a memorandum to her on alleged “vote chori” while demanding suspension of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and restoration of 13.3 crore voters deleted illegally from the voter lists.
In the memorandum submitted to President Murmu, the Opposition parties also demanded the repeal of the 2023 law providing life-long immunity to CEC and ECs, besides return to paper ballots for all future elections.
President Murmu sought proof of ‘vote chori’ from the leaders and the INDIA bloc will hand over the evidence it has to her when she is ready to accept it, Gandhi told reporters after the delegation comprising him, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, NCP(SP)’s Supriya Sule, SP’s Rajeev Rai, RJD’s Manoj Jha, VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby and CPI’s D Raja met her.
“We approach you because, in moments when every other door has been closed, the people of India look to the Office of the President as the final guardian of that covenant. We appeal to your conscience, to your sense of justice, and to your abiding duty to the people of this Republic. Do not let their voice be silenced.”
“We expect you as President of our Republic to discharge your duty to protect the Constitution of India decisively,” the two-page memorandum said.
Alleging that “vote chori” has destroyed the very foundation of our democracy, they said they had incontrovertible proof that theft of votes has taken place in election after election and cited the examples of Haryana, Maharashtra, MP, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal.
