CEC manipulated elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, West Bengal: Pala
Shillong, Sept 26: The opposition Congress, as part of its nationwide protest against the functioning of Election Commission of India (ECI), burnt the effigy of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in Shillong on Friday.
The Congress, which accused the CEC of colluding with the ruling BJP to hijack the ECI, took out a protest march from Congress Bhavan here before burning the effigy near Additional Secretariat.
“As you have seen in the paper, the CEC has manipulated the system. For the last 10 months, 14 objections have been raised by the two other election commissioners but he bulldozed all these with the help of the BJP,” Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Vincent H Pala told reporters.
He said the Centre amended the law to pave the way for manipulation. “The BJP is manipulating the mandate of the public. In Haryana, Congress was supposed to win. In Maharashtra, Congress was supposed to win and in West Bengal, there is huge manipulation, huge deletion of voters from the list,” he said.
“All the list and all data has been manipulated in Delhi by a single man, the CEC and his office,” he alleged.
Demanding resignation and arrest of the CEC, Pala said, “We demand that he should step down and resign immediately. After his resignation, there should be a commission of inquiry against him. We demand that he should be arrested. Then only will people have trust and faith in the Constitution and in the system which the election commission has been running for so long.”
Thanking Youth Congress, Mahila Congress and party workers for joining the protest despite short notice, Pala said, “The system has collapsed, the BJP has manipulated. Therefore we are here and we demand that he should be arrested and the BJP should take responsibility.”
He said the CWC will meet soon to decide the next course of action. “Today’s protest is at the state level, we will be doing it at the district level,” Pala added.
