“One PM gave Gen Z the vote, the other is determined to snatch it away through underhand means,” said Ramesh, the Congress general secretary in charge of communications. He claimed Modi feared young voters because he had failed to meet their hopes and aspirations.
The Congress had made a similar allegation on Thursday, saying young voters were being targeted for exclusion and calling for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s immediate resignation. Ramesh alleged that the annual revision process, which he said provides a route for newly eligible voters to be added to the rolls, had remained frozen for two years.
His remarks followed an Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge. According to the report, their concerns included changes to the voter registration Form 6, additions and deletions from electoral rolls, and centralised control of the electoral roll database.
Responding to the reported objections, the Election Commission said differing views were a normal part of institutional deliberations. It maintained that its orders had full legal sanction and followed established statutory procedures, and said all its officers were authorised to suggest improvements to the electoral system.
With PTI inputs
