

Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi | AICC general secretary K C Venugopal on Monday alleged that there was "criminal conspiracy" between CEC Gyanesh Kumar, PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to sabotage democracy in India.
Venugopal said that the Election Commission (EC) is expected to conduct free and fair polls, instead it has been turned into a party committee of the BJP by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
Even the other two Election Commissioners could not "digest" the illegal acts committed by the CEC, he claimed, questioning, "For whom was all this done?" Answering his own query, he alleged that "it was no doubt done for Narendra Modi and Amit Shah".
"So, this is a criminal conspiracy in connection with them. A conspiracy to sabotage the democracy in India. It started in Bihar and was seen in Haryana and Maharashtra.
"When Rahul Gandhi highlighted it, he was made fun of. He had clearly laid down the figures of the numbers of voters deleted from the electoral rolls. What he said was correct is evident from what the other two Election Commissioners reportedly said," he told reporters in Delhi.
Neither the CEC nor the PM or Shah have reacted to the allegations by the AICC general secretary.
Venugopal was referring to reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had flagged multiple issues, including deletion of names, in various states during the voter roll revision under SIR.
However, EC officials have said the poll body was unanimous in its decisions relating to the pan-India Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
The AICC general secretary further said that the Congress will be holding a meeting of its working committee on September 29 to decide its future course of action regarding CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
Venugopal, speaking to reporters in Delhi, also said that after the working committee meeting, the INDIA bloc parties will also get together to decide the further course of action to be taken by the alliance in the matter.
He said that those parties who are not part of the alliance can join them as "this is a fight to protect the foundation of democracy".
"We are open to anyone joining this fight," he said.