Srinagar, Oct 11: Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Sunday defended the Election Commission’s exercise of deleting names from electoral rolls, accusing the Congress and other opposition parties of targeting the poll body to corner the government.
Addressing media persons here, Athawale said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would not resign despite protests by the Congress-led Opposition, asserting that the deletions were based on scrutiny of electoral rolls.
“If you continue to protest, Gyanesh Kumar will not resign,” Athawale said, responding to the Opposition’s demand for accountability from the Election Commission.
Claiming that around 13 crore entries had been removed from electoral rolls across the country, Athawale said the exercise covered people who had shifted residences, duplicate registrations, untraceable voters and deceased individuals.
He claimed that approximately six crore entries related to people who had migrated from their original places of residence, while another one crore involved alleged duplicate registrations at multiple locations. Around three crore voters could not be traced, he said, adding that nearly 2.8 crore entries related to deceased persons had also been identified during the scrutiny.
Defending the exercise, Athawale said it was not directed exclusively against opposition parties and argued that voters affiliated with his own party could also have been affected.
“Why object to the Election Commission when the exercise has been carried out across the country?” he asked, questioning the Opposition’s contention that the deletions would necessarily benefit the ruling party.
Athawale accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders of targeting the government and creating difficulties for the public through their protests.
While acknowledging that protests were a democratic right, he said political parties should avoid actions that could lead to disorder and inconvenience for ordinary citizens.
“Everyone has the right to protest in a democracy, but creating anarchy is not right,” he said.
Athawale also criticised the participation of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in the Opposition’s protest, saying the group should not have joined the agitation demanding Kumar’s resignation.
He said the CJP had earlier raised issues concerning students, including the alleged NEET paper leak, which had prompted a response from the government. However, he argued that joining the Opposition’s current agitation against the Chief Election Commissioner was unjustified.
“Earlier, they raised student-related issues concerning the NEET paper leak, and the government reacted to that as well. But now, protesting with the Opposition and demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation will not be accepted,” Athawale said.
