New Delhi: The Congress Working Committee demanded on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah resign on "moral grounds" over the alleged "vote chori" in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and repeated its call for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
The CWC, chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, also demanded a halt to the SIR process and the restoration of voters it says were wrongly deleted from the rolls. The resolution was read to the media by K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi led the argument, saying the country now believed what the party had been saying about the electoral rolls. The CWC stopped short of deciding an action plan, leaving it to the INDIA bloc, which was to meet on Wednesday.
Kharge said he would apprise Prime Minister Modi of his concerns over SIR, the proposed delimitation exercise and the implementation of women's reservation when they meet on October 21. He said he had written to the Prime Minister on these issues.
The government has rejected the Opposition's charges. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government had repeatedly sought the Congress's cooperation on the proposed delimitation legislation and had held consultations with several parties.
The Congress and several other parties have been protesting the SIR, which they say has led to large-scale deletions of voters. The Election Commission maintains that SIR is meant to make electoral rolls accurate and that eligible voters can seek re-inclusion.
The Election Commission has started a drive to re-enrol eligible voters, and the Supreme Court is hearing a clutch of petitions on the SIR.