New Delhi [India], September 23 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh on Wednesday alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of electoral rolls was an "electoral loot" and demanded that elections held so far be cancelled, while reacting to an Indian Express report which said that two Election Commissioners had raised objections multiple times over decisions related to the SIR exercise.
Singh alleged that the report showed that dissent was raised 14 times by two Election Commissioners over decisions taken during the SIR process.
"Reports mention dissent being expressed 14 times. And every time, the point that emerged was that the two Election Commissioners were telling him, 'Sir, your method is wrong. This centralized system you are creating to delete and add votes is improper.' Yet, Gyanesh Kumar continued to take unilateral decisions," Singh told ANI.
He alleged that the electoral process had lost its meaning after the SIR exercise.
"Even before the Bihar elections, I had said that all that remains is to hand over the victory certificate; after the SIR, elections have lost all meaning. Now, if you wipe out 50,000 votes in a single constituency and the BJP wins by 5,000 to 8,000 votes, you can keep beating the drum of victory, but where was the election? That was a robbery," he said.
Singh alleged that the process was being carried out by "PM Modi, Amit Shah, and Gyanesh Kumar", and claimed that elections were not being won due to popularity.
"This means these elections have not been won due to Narendra Modi's popularity; all these elections were not won because of Narendra Modi's 'lok-priyata' but due to 'loot priyata'," he said.
Citing figures related to the SIR exercise, Singh said, "You struck off 60 lakh names, then added 33 lakh names, kept 27 lakh names pending, and then claimed via affidavit that hearings were completed for 1.26 lakh people, out of which 93 per cent were found to be legitimate."
"Who will go to jail for that crime? Who will be arrested for it? Gyanesh Kumar should be arrested and put behind bars," he added.
Singh further demanded that elections conducted so far be cancelled and fresh elections be held.
"With this Election Commissioner—with Gyanesh Kumar in place—no election across the country can ever be fair. Every election conducted so far—whether in Bihar, Bengal, Delhi, Haryana, or Maharashtra—every single one of them should be cancelled. Fresh elections should be conducted in this country. Otherwise, what meaning is left of democracy?" he said.
On concerns regarding changes made to Form 6, used for inclusion of names in electoral rolls, Singh alleged that the process was made complicated deliberately.
"They deliberately designed such a convoluted process so that no ordinary person could ever complete it," he said.
He cited instances of names allegedly being removed from electoral rolls, saying, "Look at the situation in Delhi: the former Army Chief's name was removed; former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani's name was removed; Arvind Kejriwal, who has been Chief Minister three times, had his entire family's names removed; Manish Sisodia's family's names were removed; Kapil Sibal, who has contested elections from here, had his name struck off and received a notice."
"What kind of process is this? You removed the name of the External Affairs Minister; you removed the Foreign Secretary's name; Rekha Gupta's name was removed; even the Election Commissioner himself, Mr Sandhu, had his name removed," Singh alleged.
Calling the SIR exercise "robbery", Singh also criticised the Supreme Court over the issue.
"This is an outright robbery, and what grieves me is that the Supreme Court is sitting with a blindfold on. Even the Supreme Court is playing the role of Dhritarashtra in this entire matter," he said.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad also reacted to the Indian Express report and raised concerns over the SIR process.
"Form 6 is used by individuals whose names are not yet on the electoral roll to apply for inclusion in the voter list. However, the government's intention is not right. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar granted the right to vote to crores of Dalits, backward classes and all citizens of this country. Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to undermine this voting right by any means possible," he said.
The Indian Express report had said that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders related to the SIR process.
The Election Commission sources, however, said that all decisions of the Election Commission of India, including those related to SIR, were taken unanimously with the approval of both Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner.
Earlier, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had called "vote chori" a "crime against the Indian people" and alleged that it was an attack on the Constitution.
Congress MP Manish Tiwari, TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Congress leader P Chidambaram, KC Venugopal, RJD MP Manoj Jha, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC leader Derek O’Brien, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj and CPI(M) MP John Brittas had also raised concerns over the report.