INDIA bloc to move impeachment motion against CEC; skip special debate in LS on Astronaut Shukla’s space mission
NEW DELHI, AUG 18 : The Opposition INDIA bloc is mulling moving an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar after he asked Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to either file an affidavit substantiating his vote theft allegations against the poll body or apologise before the country.
The proposal for an impeachment motion was discussed at the INDIA bloc meeting held in this morning.
Speaking to TNIE, an Opposition leader said that all members of the bloc have approved the proposal. The leader said that legal modalities will be discussed soon.
“The process is similar to the impeachment of a judge,” he said
The Opposition parties have also decided not to cooperate with the government on the special discussion on the impact of Astronaut Shukla’s space mission. The Lok Sabha is scheduled to have a two-day special discussion on the same.
“We have decided not to take part in the discussion and to continue with its protests,” the leader told TNIE.
At a press conference on Sunday, the CEC warned Gandhi that if he failed to provide a declaration under oath within seven days, his claims of vote theft and poll rigging would be rendered “baseless and invalid.”
Hitting back at the poll body, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the BJP-led NDA government passed a 2023 law to prevent action against the EC as it is “helping” the saffron party and “indulging in vote chori” with them.
Addressing a gathering at Aurangabad at the end of the first day of his Voter Adhikar Yatra, Gandhi said, “Today they (ECI) held a press conference. I want to ask them why the government change the law on CCTV footage of election process. Do you know that no case can be initiated against the election commissioners? In no court in India can there be a case against them.”
At a press conference on August 8, Rahul Gandhi had used the poll agency’s data to allege a theft of 1,00,250 votes in a constituency in Karnataka, with 11,965 duplicate voters, 40,009 fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single-address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 of new voters.
-PTI
