Ready for ballot paper vote if Cong govts in Kerala, K'taka resign over ‘vote chori’: Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on October 12 challenged the Congress to resign from power in Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana over alleged “vote chori”, saying he was ready to contest elections through ballot papers if the party accepted his demand.

Addressing a press conference, Sarma hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the party’s campaign against alleged electoral irregularities and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

“I am ready to contest on the ballot paper if Rahul Gandhi and Congress are ready for their governments’ resignations. The Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana governments must resign because those governments were also formed through ‘vote chori’ under Gyanesh Kumar,” Sarma said, referring to the Chief Election Commissioner.

Defending the SIR exercise, the chief minister said it was necessary to address what he described as demographic changes caused by illegal immigration.

“Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand’s demography changed due to huge illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is taking place every day, and if we cannot delete their names from the voter list, India’s demography will change,” he said.

Sarma called for the electoral roll revision exercise to be conducted every five years, arguing that it was essential to protect Indian democracy.

“I demand that there should be an SIR every five years. Only then will Indian democracy be saved,” he added.

The chief minister also accused Gandhi and the Congress of acting at the behest of foreign forces and attempting to undermine democratic institutions. He claimed that the opposition was seeking to create instability in the country and compared its alleged approach to developments in Nepal and Bangladesh.

Targeting the Congress’s ‘vote chori’ campaign, Sarma described the protests as an attempt to bring about regime change without sufficient public support.

“Without any people’s support, only 2,000-3,000 people are joining Rahul Gandhi,” he said, alleging that the protests were being led by what he called “a bunch of frustrated people” and “dimagi naxals”.

The Congress has been campaigning against alleged electoral irregularities and opposing the SIR exercise. Sarma’s remarks came amid the continuing political confrontation between the BJP and the Congress over the integrity of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections.