Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi spar over electoral reforms, clash on voter list revisions
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu) : Union Home Minister Amit Shah gave his reply on Wednesday during the discussion on electoral reforms in the Lok Sabha. While addressing the House, Amit Shah said that there was a two-day deadlock at the beginning of the session to discuss this topic. Due to this, a kind of misunderstanding and wrong impression arose among the public that we do not want to discuss. But we BJP and NDA people never run away from discussion. Amit Shah said that infiltrators cannot decide who will be the CM-PM. During the discussion on electoral reforms, there was a heated debate between Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi.
Amit Shah began responding to Rahul Gandhi's press conference, and Rahul Gandhi raised some questions. Amit Shah then said, "I will decide the order of my speech, not yours." Rahul Gandhi responded, "This is a scared and nervous response; it's not the right response." Shah replied, "I can clearly see the lines of worry on his forehead, wondering what to say. I won't be provoked by him; I'll speak in my own order."
Amit Shah said that the opposition is insistent on discussing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, but the SIR cannot be discussed in this House because it is an Election Commission process. He said that the Election Commission and Election Commissioners do not operate under the government, so if the SIR is discussed in the House, who will answer the questions related to it?
He said that the discussion was scheduled for electoral reforms, but most opposition members focused on the SIR. He said that for four months, unilateral lies have been spread about this SIR, and attempts have been made to mislead the people of the country. Amit Shah said that he has thoroughly studied the SIR process, the constitutional agreements related to it, and past SIRs. He said that he wants to respond to the lies spread by the Congress through this House.
He said that the Election Commission was created by the Constitution of this country and its articles. In a way, the Election Commission is a constitutional body. The Constitution clearly states the Election Commission's formation, its powers, the electoral process, the definition of a voter, and its powers to prepare and amend voter lists. He said that when these provisions were made, our party had not even been formed. People outside our party drafted this Constitution after discussions in the Constituent Assembly.
Amit Shah said that our Constitution entrusts the Election Commission with the responsibility of conducting free and fair elections. The Election Commission is also responsible for preparing and revising voter lists. Article 324, Part 15 of the Constitution, provides for the formation of the Election Commission, the appointment of the Election Commissioner, and the complete control over the elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Legislative Assemblies, the Vice President, and the President.