THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Dec 9: During a debate on electoral reforms in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP-led government of “capturing key institutions,” including the Election Commission, CBI, and universities, sparking uproar from ruling party members.
At the start of his speech, Gandhi claimed that vice-chancellors of all universities were affiliated with the RSS, prompting Speaker Om Birla to ask him to focus on electoral reforms and refrain from naming organizations. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju expressed displeasure, stating that the House had convened to hear Gandhi on electoral reforms, not unrelated matters.
Responding to the disruption, Rahul Gandhi insisted he was speaking the truth, alleging that vice-chancellors were appointed based on their links to RSS rather than merit. He further claimed that investigative agencies like the CBI and the ED were dominated by RSS-linked officials.
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Highlighting the Election Commission as another example of institutional capture, Gandhi said it was being used to control elections and alleged that the Commission failed to respond to his questions regarding bogus voters in state voter lists.
He accused the BJP of undermining democracy, claiming that the Chief Justice of India had been excluded from the process of appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and that, in December 2023, the government amended rules to provide immunity to election commissioners against legal action for decisions taken while in office.
Gandhi warned that when a Congress-led government returns to power at the Centre, it will retrospectively change the law to hold election commissioners accountable, adding, “We will find you.”
Emphasizing the need for electoral reforms, Rahul Gandhi proposed that machine-readable voter lists should be provided to all political parties at least one month before elections and called for amendments to rules regarding the destruction of CCTV footage.
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He highlighted instances of voter fraud, citing Bihar, where 1.22 lakh duplicate voter photos were included even after the Systematic Voter Registration process. He also referenced Haryana and Maharashtra, where voter fraud had been proven, including the case of a Brazilian woman’s photo appearing 22 times in Haryana’s voter list.
Gandhi reiterated that voter fraud is an anti-national act and accused the government of resisting necessary reforms, asserting that the Election Commission had failed to provide satisfactory answers to his allegations.
