- Amit Shah says Rajiv Gandhi introduced EVMs and Congress won first EVM-based election
- Accuses Congress of questioning EVMs only after losing in 2014
- Rahul Gandhi alleges BJP is “using” the Election Commission and weakening democracy
- LoP questions removal of CJI from EC selection panel and 45-day CCTV destruction rule
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 10th Dec: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday delivered a fierce rebuttal to Opposition allegations on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), declaring that it was former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who first introduced EVMs in India — and now his own party is opposing them.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha during the discussion on the Special Intensive Review of voter lists, Shah reminded the House that the Congress won the first-ever election conducted on EVMs in 2004, when Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister. “Ten years later, when we won in 2014, they raised doubts,” he said, accusing the Congress of attacking the system only after electoral defeat.
Shah’s remarks were a direct counter to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the government. Gandhi had alleged that the BJP was “directing and using” the Election Commission to “damage India’s democracy.”
Rahul Questions EC Reforms
Gandhi reiterated his concerns about recent changes to the Election Commission’s functioning, questioning the government’s decision to remove the Chief Justice of India from the panel that selects Election Commissioners.
“What motivation could there be to remove the CJI? Do we not believe in the CJI?” he asked. Gandhi said the selection room now includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the Leader of Opposition — a setting in which he claimed he has “no voice.”
Later, sharing a clip of his speech on X, Gandhi listed three questions he said the public was asking:
- Why was the CJI removed from the EC selection panel?
- Why was “almost complete legal immunity” given to the EC before the 2024 elections?
- Why the urgency to allow destruction of CCTV footage within 45 days?
“The answer is one — BJP is turning the Election Commission into a tool for vote theft,” Gandhi alleged.
LoP Calls for Reforms
Rahul Gandhi also demanded a machine-readable voter list for all parties a month before polls, scrapping the 45-day CCTV destruction rule, greater access to EVMs and changes to laws that, in his words, allow Election Commissioners “to get away with whatever they want.”
