The Congress said on Monday it will launch a series of protests under the banner “Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao” to demand the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the restoration of the names of eligible voters among the 130 million deleted from the electoral rolls.
Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal announced the programmes, while communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said, “We are inviting all Opposition parties to participate in the march and the Ramlila Maidan rally. This will take place all over India. “Between October 10 and 20, there would be block-level protests in the form of bike rallies or padyatras.
Venugopal announced that the party would begin the “Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao” campaign on October 10. We will also burn effigies of Gyanesh Kumar and distribute pamphlets against his misdeeds,” Venugopal said.
The party held a preparatory meeting attended by all general secretaries, in-charges and state unit chiefs. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi led the discussions. The AAP quit the bloc after the Lok Sabha elections, while the DMK snapped ties in June this year after the Congress lent support to the TVK government. Parties such as the TMC, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Left have retained ties with the AAP. “In these meetings, our party workers will identify genuine voters who have been deleted from the voters’ list.
In a change of stance, the party has also invited its two estranged allies — the DMK and the AAP — to join the INDIA bloc’s march to the Election Commission on Tuesday and attend the Ramlila Maidan rally on November 1. At the group’s last meeting on September 30, several parties nudged the Congress to find a way to bring the DMK back into the alliance. The party will organise month-long village-level meetings beginning October 25. On November 25 and 26, the Congress will take out six yatras from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to mark its protests on Constitution Day.
From October 10 to November 26, the Congress plans to hold marches, rallies and village meetings as part of a “continuous, aggressive campaign” against Kumar. We are naming our workers ‘vote rakshaks’,” Venugopal said.
