New Delhi: The Congress party on Thursday called on its state committees to organise mass protest marches to their respective State Election Commission offices on September 25. The agitation seeks the immediate arrest and dismissal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, alongside an independent review of all electoral roll modifications made during his tenure.

As part of a two-phase agitation, all District Congress Committees (DCCs) will conduct follow-up demonstration marches to their local District Collectorates on September 28.

Announcing the directive, Congress general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal asserted that Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had consistently highlighted a large-scale “vote chori” scheme led by the “BJP-controlled CEC Mr Gyanesh Kumar”.

Venugopal alleged that recent disclosures exposed Kumar’s “treason” and demanded his prosecution for anti-national acts against Indian democracy.

“The Congress will be taking to the streets on this burning issue, and all Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) have been instructed to organise massive protest marches to their respective State Election Commission Offices tomorrow, September 25, firmly demanding his immediate arrest, his removal from office, and a comprehensive, independent review of all decisions and electoral roll changes made under him,” Venugopal stated.

Outlining the secondary phase, he added, “As the second phase of the protests, all District Congress Committees (DCCs) will organise similar massive protest marches to their respective District Collectorates on September 28th”.

“Gyanesh must go, and all his decisions must be reversed. Our protests will relentlessly go on until he is removed, sent to jail and all our demands are met," Venugopal added.

The call for protests follows media reports revealing that fellow Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had repeatedly raised formal objections regarding the execution of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. The report alleged that the two commissioners formally recorded dissenting notes at least 14 times over 10 months concerning decisions implemented without their prior knowledge.

PTI