CEC did not answer our questions, acting like BJP spokesperson: Oppn

New Delhi, Aug 18: Accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of acting like a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson, opposition parties on Monday said he failed to answer their questions on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and issues related to voter list irregularities.Addressing a joint press conference here after a meeting, representatives of eight prominent opposition parties like the Congress, TMC, SP, DMK and RJD hit out at the CEC, alleging that instead of responding to questions raised by them, he chose to attack them at his presser on Sunday.”The right to vote is the most important right given by the Constitution to a common citizen. Democracy depends on it. EC is the body meant to protect it… But we can see that the CEC did not reply to the important questions being raised by the political parties, and is running away from its responsibility,” Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said.He should have answered valid questions asked by the Opposition. “On the contrary, he raised questions on political parties and attacked them,” he alleged.”It would have been better if they had told why SIR was done in such a hurry, when elections are just three months away, without discussing with political parties; why are they in a rush to announce SIR?” he said.He reminded the EC that its constitutional duty is to ensure free and fair elections and claimed that the officials at the helm are not allowing an inquiry into the Opposition’s allegations.”It’s clear that EC is in the hands of some officials who are taking sides. Such officials are against any inquiry,” he alleged.Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav said that while the EC is asking Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to give an affidavit with his complaint, his party SP had submitted affidavits with complaints of around 18,000 voters being removed from the list in 2022, but no action was taken.”In the 2022 UP polls, when Akhilesh Yadav said names of SP supporters have been removed from the voter list, we gave affidavits, but no action has been taken,” he said.Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra said that if the voter list, on which the last general election was conducted, is not correct, the Lok Sabha should be dissolved.”Is the list on which the Lok Sabha election was done fraudulent? If that is true, the current and previous Election Commissioners should be prosecuted, and this Lok Sabha should be dissolved immediately,” she said.Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha attacked the CEC, saying, “Yesterday we were looking for our CEC, we found a new BJP spokesperson”.Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena (UBT) also accused the CEC of “behaving like a BJP spokesperson”.Addressing a press conference in Delhi on Sunday, CEC Gynaesh Kumar said the electoral roll revision going on in Bihar is aimed at removing all shortcomings in voter lists and that it is a matter of grave concern that some parties are spreading misinformation about it, firing from the EC’s shoulder.The CEC rejected as “baseless” the allegations of double voting and “vote theft” and asserted that all stakeholders are working to make SIR a success in a transparent manner.