From electoral reforms to vote theft, Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi engaged in a heated exchange in Parliament on Wednesday. BJP MPs claim that the opposition walked out under pressure from Shah's 'point by point' rebuttal.
On the other hand, Congress and other opposition parties claim that Shah could not provide proper answers to Rahul Gandhi's questions about vote theft. He characteristically brought up the Nehru era. Taking it a step further on Thursday, Rahul said, 'Amit Shah was under mental stress while delivering his speech.' During the exchange on Wednesday, Shah used an expletive in Parliament (which has been removed from the parliamentary record), and Rahul claims this is proof of his mental instability.
Facing journalists outside Parliament that day, Rahul said, 'Yesterday in Parliament, Amit Shah ji was very nervous. His hands were shaking; he was using wrong language. Amit Shah ji is under a lot of mental stress—which the entire country witnessed yesterday.' Even before the winter session of Parliament, Rahul had raised allegations of 'vote theft' through three consecutive press conferences. He accused both the BJP and the Election Commission of 'vote theft' by putting them under the same umbrella.
On Wednesday, interrupting Shah's speech, Rahul directly invited the Home Minister to a debate on the allegations of 'vote theft'. Shah became doubly agitated after this. The Home Minister's clear response was, 'Parliament will not run according to your words.' In the context of that debate, Rahul said on Thursday, 'He did not answer any of the points I made. He provided no evidence either. I had challenged Amit Shah ji directly to a debate regarding my press conference—and there was no response to that either.'
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Rahul had essentially raised three questions about the electoral process. First, among the three members of the committee for appointing Election Commissioners in the country are the Prime Minister, a minister from the central government, and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. As the sole member from the opposition, his views carry no weight.
Why was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court removed from this committee? Second, why cannot an Election Commissioner be punished for actions taken under their authority? Third, why have Election Commissioners been given a 'protective shield' under Section 16 of the law introduced in 2023? Additionally, opposition parties including Rahul have also raised questions about why the Commission will not preserve CCTV footage.
