New Delhi [India], October 6 : Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the Central government and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, citing a media report that over a dozen judicial tribunal officers in West Bengal had flagged severe functional deficiencies in the Election Commission's appeal portal.
His remarks came ahead of a planned protest march by Members of Parliament from the INDIA bloc and other opposition parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters to demand the resignation of the CEC.
In a post on social media platform X, the Congress leader alleged that the previous West Bengal Assembly elections were manipulated, claiming that the poll panel chief acted at the behest of the ruling dispensation's top leadership.
"More skeletons are tumbling out of the Election Omission of India’s closet. Clearly the PM-HM strategy was to somehow capture and win the West Bengal Assembly elections at any cost. It was a text book case of mass manipulation and rigging which was overseen by the CEC. The puppet has of course to go but the two puppeteers too have to be held accountable. They stand brutally exposed and now it is only a matter of time for them to meet their reckoning," Ramesh said.
Announcing the opposition's demonstration, Ramesh stated, "Today, MPs of the INDIA janbandhan plus other Opposition MPs who have also been invited will be marching peacefully to the Election Commission of India to demand the CEC's resignation. Looks like the Parliament complex is already under an unprecedented security siege showing the extreme nervousness of the puppeteer pair."
Ramesh also shared an investigative media report stating that judges of more than a dozen appellate tribunals appointed in West Bengal under the directions of the Supreme Court to adjudicate the deletion of 27 lakh electors under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) had formally put on record major hurdles in the ECI's digital portal.
According to the report, the tribunal judges noted in official communications sent to the ECI and the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice that the designated digital portal did not have the mechanism to serve notices to parties, upload additional documents, conduct virtual hearings, or restore deleted voters back to the electoral rolls.
Meanwhile, security has been tightened outside the Election Commission of India office, ahead of the INDIA bloc MPs' protest march from Makar Dwar.
Opposition leaders and MPs are set to march towards Nirvachan Sadan, the headquarters of the Election Commission of India (ECI), in the national capital on Tuesday morning, as part of their ongoing protest over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process and their demand for the sacking of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
The INDIA bloc march has also got a fillip with the Biju Janata Dal committing its support to the march, as well as Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, who has left Lucknow to join the protest march.
The march comes amid the Opposition's sustained campaign against alleged discrepancies in electoral rolls and its demand for greater transparency from the poll panel.
Leaders of several INDIA bloc parties will participate in the march and raise their concerns before the Election Commission (EC). The protest is part of a broader "Save Democracy" campaign announced by the Opposition, under which its leaders have been holding demonstrations and public programmes against the EC.
The march to Nirvachan Sadan is expected to further intensify the political confrontation between the Opposition and the poll panel over electoral roll-related issues.