Prayagraj, 7 Oct (HS): On the call of the national and

state leadership, City Congress Committee President Fuzail Hashmi addressed a

press conference organised by the INDIA Alliance on Wednesday afternoon at the

party office in Chowk. He alleged that the present Chief Election Commissioner

(CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, was involved in the alleged manipulation of 13 crore

votes.

Hashmi stated that, despite objections being raised 14 times

over the past 10 months by the two Election Commissioners working along with the

CEC, Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi, Gyanesh Kumar allegedly

acted as an agent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and

the BJP, and facilitated the formation of BJP governments in several states and

at the Centre. These allegations, he said, have been raised by the INDIA

Alliance.

Hashmi said that revelations concerning the internal

functioning of the Election Commission have exposed alleged inequality among

the three Election Commissioners and raised serious questions about the

democratic functioning of the institution. He added that recent developments

have not only increased concerns about the intentions of the Election

Commission but have also raised questions about the future of Indian democracy

and its institutions.

He said that, on the directions of Rahul Gandhi, the INDIA

Alliance recently organised nationwide protests demanding the resignation of

Gyanesh Kumar. From October 2 to October 8, constituents of the INDIA Alliance

carried out marches at ward, mandal and block levels, as well as at

metropolitan and district levels, to bring before the people what they

described as the alleged nexus between the BJP and Gyanesh Kumar.

Hashmi further informed that on Thursday, an evening torch

procession will be taken out from the Pathar Girja protest site to Subhash

Chauraha, demanding the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar. Varun Chaudhary, National

In-charge Secretary, will participate in the march. He reiterated the demand

for the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home

Minister Amit Shah. Alleging “vote theft,” he said that what he termed

“match-fixing” was being carried out through three stages—EVMs, electoral rolls

and vote counting. Kishore Varshney, Harikesh Tripathi, Farhan Ahmad, and

others were present.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi