StatesAssam and Telangana
Himanta dares Congress states to resign as Revanth calls for CEC to go
Assam's Chief Minister said he would fight on ballot papers if the Congress governments in Keralam, Karnataka and Telangana quit first. Telangana's Chief Minister, in Delhi for the protest, said SIR was being used against opposition voters.
Key points
- Himanta Biswa Sarma said he was ready to fight on ballot papers if Congress governments in three states resigned.
- He said SIR should be held every five years, citing infiltration in Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand.
- Revanth Reddy said the "Gyanesh Kumar Go Back" campaign would save the country.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said he was ready to contest elections on ballot papers, but only if the Congress governments in Keralam, Karnataka and Telangana resigned first, as the row over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls pulled in chief ministers from across the country.
Speaking at a press conference in Guwahati, Sarma answered the Congress charge of “vote chori”, or vote theft. He said those three governments had also been elected with EVMs during the tenure of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and should step down if Congress believed the process was rigged.
“I am ready to contest elections using ballot papers,” he said.
The case for SIR
Sarma said SIR was necessary because illegal infiltration had changed the demographics of Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand, and called for the revision to be held every five years.
He accused Rahul Gandhi and the Congress of acting on the instructions of foreign forces and of trying to weaken democratic institutions. He said only 2,000 to 3,000 people were taking part in the Congress protest in Delhi, and called the protesters “brain Naxals” who did not want India to progress.
Revanth Reddy in Delhi
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who had travelled to Delhi for the opposition protest demanding the CEC’s removal, made the opposite case to reporters the same day.
He said the BJP had used the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department to hold power and was now using SIR, removing opposition voters because it expected to lose the next elections. He alleged that Gyanesh Kumar had been tasked with removing anti-BJP voters, mainly Dalits, Adivasis, the young, the unemployed and the poor, and that the other two Election Commissioners had objected to errors in the exercise.
Reddy said the BJP had lost in states without SIR and won in Bihar and West Bengal, where it was held. He claimed India’s voter count had fallen from 97 crore to 81 crore even as the population grew, and asked what objection Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to removing the CEC.
He compared the campaign started by Rahul Gandhi to the “Simon Go Back” protests of the freedom movement. “The Gyanesh Kumar Go Back movement will save the country,” he said.