The internal dissent within the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and Rahul Gandhi’s attack on the poll panel took centre stage on the show, with BJP’s Pradeep Bhandari pointing to earlier instances of disagreements within the poll body under previous Congress governments.
Congress’s Salman Soz was questioned on how the Opposition had managed to win several elections after 2014 and whether the electoral system was being described as subverted only when the BJP won elections.
The debate came against the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi’s no-holds-barred attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Gandhi called the three “deshdrohis” (traitors), alleging that they had “destroyed” India’s voting system, and demanded that the CEC immediately resign and turn an “approver”.
Addressing a press conference at Indira Bhawan, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha alleged that India’s elections had been fundamentally broken, the vote destroyed and institutions captured by Modi and Shah. He said they would be investigated for their alleged conspiracy to “steal elections” and for what they had done to the country.
The BJP hit back at Gandhi, dismissing his claims as based on “unknown, conspicuous, and dubious sources” and accusing the Congress leader of having “no knowledge of Indian politics.”
