New Delhi | Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday batted for pre-SIR electoral roll to be used for future elections and voting through ballots instead of EVMs, as he stressed on unity in the opposition INDIA bloc with a joint action plan.

In his opening remarks at the INDIA bloc meeting, Kharge said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should resign and turn approver against the powers "interfering" in electoral rolls The Congress chief claimed that the CEC "stands totally exposed".

"His two fellow members have written 14 times in 10 months! It questions his very integrity and intentions. Therefore, he should be removed from his position. If he has even an iota of Constitutional or moral shame left in him, he will resign himself and turn approver against the powers who are interfering in our electoral rolls," Kharge said.

He asserted that the opposition group will not allow transparency to be replaced by secrecy.

"And we will not allow the fundamental principle of our Republic -- one person, one vote, one value -- to be weakened," he said at the meeting attended by former Congress chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, TMC chief Mamata Benerjee and leaders from parties such as the SP, RJD, CPI, CPI(M), NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT).

Kharge asserted that the ballot belongs to the people, and the mandate belongs to the people.

"So the power of government ultimately rests in the hands of the people," he said.

"Our task today is to ensure that the people of India remain the final and unquestioned authority in our democracy," Kharge said.

He suggested that the INDIA bloc should demand that the pre-SIR electoral roll to be used for future elections.

INDIA parties must also demand "complete transparency" in every electoral-roll revision, including constituency-wise and booth-wise information on additions, deletions and corrections, he said.

Kharge also called for due notice, reasons and an effective appeal mechanism before any legitimate voter is removed from the roll.

He also said the parties must call for protection of eligible voters from exclusion caused by administrative failures, inadequate documentation or lack of awareness.

While batting for voting through ballots instead of EVMs, he said there should be simple and accessible voter registration for young citizens, particularly first-time voters.

Kharge also stressed on institutional accountability and an Election Commission that commands confidence across the political spectrum.

"The INDIA parties must stand together when the fundamental democratic right of citizens is at stake. We should therefore leave this meeting with a clear programme of action," he said.

The Congress chief said India is the world's largest democracy and a nation whose democratic traditions have been built on a simple but profound principle - every citizen must have an equal voice in choosing the government of this country.

"The principle of one person, one vote, one value lies at the heart of our Republic. Today, that principle is facing a serious threat," he said.

Across the country, citizens and political parties are raising grave concerns about functioning of the Election Commission, he said.

"For years, we have demanded answers on EVMs. We have raised questions about voter-list manipulation and unexplained changes in electoral rolls. Rahul ji showed it with proof that it was done in Mahadevpura, Aland, Haryana and Maharashtra. In the same manner parties of the INDIA group all raised questions and objections in this regard. But alas all in vain," he said.

Instead of acknowledging our complaints the Commission looked the other way, Kharge said.

"Once cornered by enough data and proof given by us, the Election Commission resorted to SIR. The Election Commission says that Special Intensive Revision is intended to clean and update electoral rolls. But when such an exercise can result in very large numbers of voters being excluded or required to establish their eligibility again, the burden must be on the System to ensure that no genuine voter is disenfranchised," he said.

It is shocking that as many as 13.3 crore voters have blatantly been removed from voter list, Kharge said, adding that their power to take part in a democracy has been snatched.

It is ordinary voters who should be deciding who comes to power rather than those who are in power, Kharge said.

"So our position must be unequivocal: No genuine Indian citizen should be forced out of the electoral process through an opaque, arbitrary or inadequately supervised exercise," he said.

"If names are deleted, we must know who was deleted. We must also know why," he added.

There can be no credible election without an independent and impartial Election Commission as envisioned in Article 324 of the Constitution, he said.

"Now we know why the PM brought the 'Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023', to remove CJI from the selection panel of the Election Commission and instead replaced by a Minister," he said.

He pointed out that the bill provided a blanket immunity for life to the CEC and the two ECs.

"Because PM (Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah want a rubber stamp who can help them remain in power. In fact they are the real culprits," he alleged.

They broke several parties and the Election Commission's role has been more of a facilitator rather than an impartial arbitrator, Kharge said.

Kharge also said that by changing the rules in form 6 for enrolling for the first-time-voters by the Election Commission, the youngsters are deliberately being discouraged from voting.

On EVMs, Kharge said "our position should also be clear".

These are machines that BJP decides to use as per its needs and so "we cannot allow them to use these machines any further", he said.

"We must go back to ballot votes to restore faith and confidence in India's election system," Kharge said.

The parties that attended the meeting were the Congress, Samajwadi Party, All India Trinamool Congress, NCP(SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Rashtriya Janata Dal, CPI(M), CPI, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, CPI-ML, IUML, Kerala Congress (M), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, RevolutionarySocialist Party, Kerala Congress (Jacob) and All India Forward Bloc.

Independent Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal also attended the meeting.

The meeting comes days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.

Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.