India opposition parties call for protests over ‘vote theft’

NEW DELHI: India’s opposition parties announced on Wednesday planned protests to “save democracy”, escalating their campaign against the election commission after a newspaper investigation suggested impropriety in a large-scale voter roll revision.

Politicians have accused the head of Election Commission of India — long regarded as the guardian of the world’s largest democracy — of acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The election body has rejected the allegations, saying all its decisions were legally valid, while its chief Gyanesh Kumar has not commented.

“The main issue is the theft of votes,” said Rahul Gandhi, of the main opposition Congress party.

“We are going to ensure that those who have destroyed Indian democracy are punished,” he told reporters.

Opposition lawmakers will march to the Election Commission in New Delhi on Tuesday, and hold “save democracy” rallies countrywide in the days following, said Congress party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

The Indian Express daily reported last week that some key decisions linked to the contentious revision exercise were likely taken without the approval of two of the three election commissioners.

The commission said the report gave “only one part of the picture”.

It maintains that the revision was intended to remove duplicate entries and prevent “foreign illegal immigrants” from appearing on voter rolls.