People choose their leaders, but the exact opposite was happening under SIR: BJD MP Sulata Deo

New Delhi: Amid the INDIA bloc's protest against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Biju Janata Dal MP Sulata Deo said that 27.5 lakh voters were omitted in the SIR process in Odisha, noting that in a democracy, people choose their leaders, but the exact opposite was happening here, with the leaders choosing who gets to vote.

“It has been proven in Dhamnagar in Bhadrak district, where the BLO raised an objection and came out and spoke about what was happening. Following this, the ERO was also suspended. Look, in Odisha, the names of around 27.5 lakh voters have been deleted in the SIR, and across India, the names of 13 crore voters have been deleted. What kind of democracy is this? This is not democracy at all," she said.

“Our leader Naveen Patnaik has only one motto– to be with the people of Odisha. We are joining this protest. We are neither with the INDI alliance nor with the NDA. As a responsible political party, we are concerned about the names of people being deleted during the SIR. In Odisha, the names of around 27.5 lakh people have been deleted," Deo added.

“In democracy, people choose their representative, but what is happening today? Today the leader is choosing who is going to vote for them. If they support a certain party, then they are going to stay; if they are not, then they will be omitted. This has never happened before," she said.

“The lie around SIR has come forth, because Gyanesh Kumar has earlier said that all decisions were taken keeping the Supreme Court in the loop, but the Supreme Court commented that the CEC took no such steps,” she said.

“How many lies is Gyanesh Kumar going to utter?" the BJD leader asked. She also cited the controversy when, in March, an Election Commission letter was sealed with a Bharatiya Janata Party stamp, instead of the election body’s own stamp.

“We should have known since then that there are no loopholes in the system, but the entire system is hollow. CEC Gyanesh Kumar did not obey the Supreme Court, nor did he comply with his two colleagues (Election Commissioners) Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi,” she added.

“Whom was he listening to? Which memorandums was he signing? The ones coming from the BJP office? Don’t say you are the biggest democratic party in the world. You run on a whim,” she said.

"In Dhamnagar, 227 minority voters in a single ward were deleted. Why? To oppose these actions, we are conducting this march. This is not the first time Naveen Patnaik sought CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. The entire vote is rigged,” she said.

The INDIA bloc MPs, holding Tricolours and banners carrying messages such as ‘Save Democracy’, raised slogans against the CEC, BJP and RSS as they proceeded towards the ECI office.

Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, along with several other INDIA bloc leaders, staged a dharna after being stopped from proceeding to the ECI headquarters.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

IANS

[email protected]