Congress workers stage protest in Punjab to demand resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Ferozepur: Thousands of Congress workers on Monday staged a protest in Punjab's Ferozepur demanding the resignation and arrest of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar for subverting and sabotaging the democracy in the country at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The protesters also burnt the effigies of the Prime Minister and the Chief Election Commissioner.

Speaking on the occasion, State Congress Chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said that CEC Gyanesh Kumar had "subverted and sabotaged" the electoral process and noted that 13.8 crore voters had been "single-handedly disenfranchised" through deletion from electoral rolls.

He quoted the examples of the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Haryana, saying the electoral outcome in those states was quite contrary to the ground realities and the public perception.

He alleged that the Election Commission under Gyanesh Kumar was colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and deleting the names of the voters they believe are against them.

He said that when Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi raised the matter three years ago, the Election Commission tried to deny it.

He added that now the two Election Commissioners (Sukbhir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi) had admitted what Rahul Gandhi has been saying for the past three years.

The State party President Warring cautioned the Congress workers in Punjab to be alert against the deletion of votes from the electoral rolls.

He said it was the standard practice of the Election Commission to carry out Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the states and delete votes to help the BJP and same thing was happening in Punjab.

He added that 20 lakh votes had been deleted from Punjab electoral rolls so far and the figure could go up further.

Warring also lashed out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state, saying the AAP and the BJP were the two sides of the same coin.

He cited the examples of how the AAP subverted the results of the Municipal Committees in Punjab.

Warring said the AAP government was institutionalising the criminalisation of politics in Punjab.

He apprehended that time was not too far when only the criminals and gangsters like Jaggu Bhagwanpuira and Gurpreet Sekhon, with dozens of serious criminal cases registered against them will be contesting elections.

He said both Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Akali Dal Chief Sukhbir Singh Badal were encouraging the gangster culture in the state.

Warring also took a jibe at CM Mann for surrendering to Delhi leaders, pointing out how 10 Ministerial bungalows were allotted to unauthorised people from Delhi and Rajasthan.

He said while the outsiders were occupying these bungalows the Ministers were forced to stay in the guest houses.

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