NEW DELHI:
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Tuesday took on Rahul Gandhi over his allegation of electoral malpractices against the govt, saying EVMs were introduced by former PM Rajiv Gandhi to curb poll irregularities, and blamed "pro-Muslim" politics of
Congress and regional parties for their opposition to SIR, as he cited disproportionate rise in Muslim population in states like West Bengal to back the exercise.
Dubey rebutted Gandhi's allegations - including over "vote chori" and govt's decisive say in appointment of election commissioners - saying Congress put its favourite bureaucrats in poll bodies and rewarded them with berths and party tickets. As member of the selection committee, the LoP is now part of the process and can file his dissent which was never the case when Congress was in office, he said.
Cong involved in 'vote chori' since 1952, claim BJP netas Intervening in the discussion on election reforms in the lower House of Parliament, law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the special intensive revision of electoral rolls has been held multiple times since 1952 & was necessary to clean up rolls, which change due to migration and rapid urbanisation.
Meghwal accused Congress of engaging in "vote chori" since the first LS elections, including in the defeat of B R Ambedkar. He emphasised that the Modi govt did not change the law regarding appointment of the CEC and fellow election commissioners, but created a framework following a 2023 SC ruling.
Nishikant Dubey said former CEC TN Sheshan was given a Congress ticket to contest against BJP's LK Advani, while another CEC, MS Gill, became a minister in the Manmohan Singh govt after "favouring" Sonia Gandhi in the "office of profit" row. "They talk of transparency. Congress worker Batuk Singh was made UPSC chairman," he said.
He said Parliament's select committees dating back to the 60s and 70s recommended SIR and voting machines for reforming polling process, while a joint committee that included MPs from Jana Sangh, BJP's forerunner, favoured in 1972 reducing the voting age to 18 from 21. Rajiv Gandhi implemented this in 1988, and Congress is claiming it to be the biggest polls reform, he said.
Batting for SIR, he named a number of districts, including Kolkata and Murshidabad, in poll-bound West Bengal and Jharkhand, and cited 2011 Census data to flag disproportionately high rise in the Muslim population compared to their national growth since independence to claim the presence of Bangladeshi infiltrators.
BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal said Congress did "vote chori" by picking Nehru as PM over Sardar Patel, who was favoured by most party units, while Indira Gandhi did it by imposing Emergency.
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