New Delhi [India], December 9 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the BJP of 'vote chori', saying it is the biggest anti-national act, and alleged that the Election Commission is 'colluding with those in power' to 'shape elections'.

Taking part in the debate in the Lok Sabha on electoral reforms, Rahul Gandhi, who is Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, questioned the Modi government over the rationale of some of the laws it has enacted concerning Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner.

'I want to ask three questions which will make it very clear that the BJP is directing and using the Election Commission to damage India's democracy. The first question, why is it that the CJI was removed from the selection panel of the Election Commissioner?... Why is he not in that room? I sit in that room. It is so-called a democratic decision. On one side, PM Modi and HM Amit Shah. On the other side, the leader of the opposition. I have no voice in that room. What they decide is what happens. So the first question, why is the Prime Minister and Amit Shah so keen on choosing exactly who the election commissioner is going to be?' he asked.

'No Prime Minister has done this in the history of India. In December 2023, this government changed the law. They changed the law to make sure that no Election Commissioner could be punished for any action they take while they are an Election Commissioner. Why would the Prime Minister and Home Minister give this gift of immunity to the Election Commissioner?' he asked.

Rahul Gandhi asked why the guidelines with regard to CCTVs and the data that they contain had been changed.

'Why was a law put in place that allows the Election Commission to destroy CCTV footage 45 days after the election? What is the need? The answer given is that it is a question of data. It is not a question of data. It is a question of stealing the election. What is the result of this institutional capture? What is the result of controlling the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commission?' he asked.

'First of all, we have a set of election campaigns that are tailored for the Prime Minister. Three-five month-long campaigns are taking place so that the Prime Minister's schedule can be fitted into the program. Second, we have a Brazilian woman who appears 22 times on the voter list of Haryana,' he said.

As Congress members sought to display photos of the Brazilian woman, Speaker Om Birla took strong objection and asked Rahul Gandhi to tell his party members to respect the dignity of the House.

Amid protests by BJP members, Rahul Gandhi said that he does not agree with party members showing photographs. 'Election of Haryana was stolen. Theft ensured by Election Commission,' he alleged.

'The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote-chori. There is no bigger anti-national act than vote-chori because when you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country. You destroy modern India, you destroy the idea of India. Vote-chori is an anti-national act and those across the aisle are doing an anti-national act,' he said.

Rahul Gandhi began his speech by stating that Mahatma Gandhi laid a lot of emphasis on Khadi.

'Why was it that he framed the entire Indian freedom struggle around the concept of khadi, and why is it that he only wore Khadi? Because Khadi is not just a cloth. Khadi is the expression of the people of India; it is the imagination, it is the sentiment, it is the productive force of the people of India... Whichever state you go to, you will find different fabrics. Himachali cap, Assamese Gomcha, Banarsi Saree, Kanchipuram Saree, Naga jacket. And you will find that all these fabrics represent the people... These fabrics are beautiful,' he said.

'But if you look slightly deeper, you will find that each one of them has thousands of little threads embracing each other... No one thread is superior to another thread. The threads cannot protect you. The threads cannot keep you warm. But when they come together as a fabric, they can keep you warm, protect you, and express what you have in your heart. In the same way, our nation is also a fabric made up of 1.4 billion people, and the fabric is woven together by the vote. This House where I am standing today, the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Sabha across the country, Panchayats across the country, none of them would exist if the vote did not exist,' he added.

He alleged that the project of the RSS was to capture the institutional framework of the country.

'I am saying that institutions of India are captured, and I will come to the point that the Election Commission is captured. The project of the RSS was to capture the institutional framework of the country and I said how the education system has been captured. Vice Chancellor after Vice Chancellor after Vice Chancellor is placed not on merit, not on capability, not on scientific temper, but on the fact that he belongs to a particular organization,' the Congress leader alleged.

'Second capture, which helps in destroying democracy, the capture of the intelligence agencies, we have the Home Minister sitting here, the capture of the CBI, of the ED, of the Income Tax Department, and the systematic placement of bureaucrats who favour their ideology and attack the opposition and anybody who chooses to oppose the RSS,' he further alleged.

Suggesting electoral reforms, he said that the Election Commission should give machine readable voter list to political parties one month before the polls, take back guidelines on destruction of video footage after 45 days, 'give us access to Electronic Voting Machines' and change the law about the composition of committee which selects the Chief Election Commissioner.

'Change the law that allows the Election Commissioner to get away with whatever they want to do. I want to assure the Election Commissioner, they might be under an impression that the law lets them get away with it. Let me remind them, we are going to change the law retrospectively and we will come and find you,' he said.

Clause 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 provides the Chief Election Commissioner and CEC and Election Commissioners (ECs) immunity from any legal action for decisions taken while in office.

The Election Commission had earlier this year revised its guidelines on preserving video footage and photographs of elections and communicated to Chief Electoral Officers that the retention period will be 45 days after the declaration of results. It said that data can be destroyed if no election petition is filed during the period.

Rahul Gandhi faced interruptions during his speech with BJP members stating that he is deviating from the subject of the debate.

He accused RSS of believing in a hierarchy and that 'they believe that they should be on top of that hierarchy.'

'It is the idea that every thread, every person in the Union of India is equal that disturbs my friends in the RSS. They are happy to see the fabric, but they cannot stand the idea that every single person in the fabric of our country, regardless of what religion they come from, regardless of what community they come from, regardless of what language they speak, should be equal because they fundamentally do not believe in equality. They believe in a hierarchy, and they believe that they should be on top of that hierarchy,' he said.

'On 30th January, 1948, three bullets pierced the chest of Mahatma Gandhi. Nathuram Godse assassinated the father of our nation. Today, our friend does not embrace him. Today, our friends have pushed him away. This is an uncomfortable truth. But that's not where the project ended. As I said, everything has emerged from the vote. All the institutions have emerged from the vote. So it's obvious that the RSS has to capture all the institutions that have emerged from it. After Gandhiji's assassination, the next step of the project was the wholesale capture of India's institutional framework,' he alleged.

The Lok Sabha took up discussion on electoral reforms on Tuesday, a day after the House debated 150 years of Vande Mataram. (ANI)