Dimapur, December 11 (MExN): AICC Minority Department National Coordinator Incharge of Manipur and former Chairman NPCC Minority Department, Rajesh Kumar Sethi, has strongly condemned the Union Home Minister’s “nervous and evasive” response in Parliament on the issue of Vote Chori, calling it a clear indication of a deep-rooted nexus between the BJP and the Election Commission.
Sethi, in a press release, said that the Home Minister chose deflection and rhetoric, exposing the government’s uneasiness on the subject of electoral transparency, instead of addressing specific, pointed questions raised by the Opposition.
“The Home Minister did not utter a single word on providing digital, machine-readable, transparent voter rolls. The country has the right to know why the BJP is afraid of transparency in voter lists. What are they trying to hide?” Sethi asked.
At the same time, he stated that the BJP’s visible discomfort regarding an independent architecture audit of EVMs raises serious doubts about the integrity of the voting process.
“If the machines are foolproof, why is the government terrified of an open audit?” Sethi questioned.
Likewise, Sethi also slammed the government for giving no explanation about BJP leaders and workers allegedly holding voter IDs in multiple states and even casting votes in more than one constituency.
“This is not just malpractice—this is a criminal conspiracy against democracy,” he said.
On the removal of the Chief Justice of India from the selection process of Election Commissioners, Sethi said the Government has “no constitutional or moral justification” for weakening institutional checks. He described the BJP’s defense of granting extraordinary immunity to the Election Commission as “vague, illogical, and deeply suspicious.”
Furthermore, Sethi termed the Minister’s excuse for withholding CCTV footage from counting centres as “the most absurd and laughable explanation ever given in Parliament.”
He asked “If elections are truly free and fair, why hide the CCTV footage?
Reiterating his central argument, he stated that “Vote Chori is the biggest act of treason against the nation.”
He reaffirmed the Congress Party’s unwavering demands for transparent, machine-readable voter lists, Independent EVM architecture audit, Restoration of CJI’s role in EC appointments, mandatory public release of CCTV footage from counting centers and accountability for BJP cadres with multiple voter IDs.
“The people of India deserve answers, not excuses,” Sethi said.
