Opposition members walked out of the Lok Sabha on Wednesday after home minister Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi traded barbs during a debate on electoral reforms and the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the Lok Sabha.
Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said the walkout showed the Opposition had no patience to discuss any issue and only wanted to waste Parliament’s time, even as Shah and the leader of Opposition challenged each other over allegations of voter fraud and the conduct of elections.
Responding to the Congress MP’s charge that there were 501 votes registered in a single house in Haryana, Shah said the Election Commission had already clarified the matter.
“Rahul Gandhi said there are 501 votes in a single house in Haryana. The EC clarified it saying that House 265 is not a small house and one family is spread over one acre. The house doesn't have a number and three generations have been living in the house. They are neither fake houses, nor fraud voters,” he said.
Shah added that the numbering system had existed since the time a Congress government was elected in Haryana.
The home minister underscored the constitutional mandate of the Election Commission, saying Parliament was not the right forum to debate the SIR exercise.
“The debate on SIR cannot happen in Parliament. Because the issue is with the Election Commission. The Election Commission doesn't work with the government,” he said.
Shah noted that the first SIR was conducted under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1952, with subsequent exercises held in 1957, 1961, 1965-66 and 1983-84 under Congress governments.
The confrontation escalated when Rahul Gandhi pressed for a discussion on his recent news conferences, saying, “Amit Shah, I challenge you to have a debate on my three press conferences.”
He also claimed there were 19 lakh fake voters in Haryana and insisted that the government respond to his allegations of voter list manipulation.
“He talked about Haryana. He cited one example. There are several other examples. There are 19 lakh fake voters there,” he said.
Shah asserted that Parliament would not function at the insistence of any one leader.
“The Leader of the Opposition tells me to first respond to his questions. The Parliament won't function as per your wishes. I will decide what to speak. The Parliament won't function in this way. He should have the patience to listen to my answers,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi called Shah’s reply “a frightened response.” “This was a frightened response. This is not the true response,” he said. Shah countered by declining to be drawn into Gandhi’s provocations. “I will speak on my subject. I will not go with his provocations,” he said.
He accused the Opposition of creating the impression that the government was avoiding discussion.
During his address, Shah dismissed the Opposition’s allegations of “vote chori,” saying he was compelled to respond after the Congress repeatedly raised the issue during poll campaigns.
He said the BJP-led NDA had won three Lok Sabha polls since 2014 along with 41 state polls, while the Congress had won 30 state polls in the last 11 years. Shah questioned how the Congress could secure victories if elections were being rigged.
Shah also ridiculed the Congress for its losses, saying its leadership was responsible. “You took out 'vote chori' issues during your poll rallies in Bihar, still you lost the election. The reason behind your loss is your leadership, it's not EVM or the voter list… May I go wrong, but Congress workers will one day seek an explanation on how you lost so many polls,” Shah said.
He cited a Delhi court notice relating to Sonia Gandhi allegedly voting before becoming an Indian citizen, saying, “Dispute of third 'vote chori' has just reached civil courts on how Sonia Gandhi became a voter before becoming citizen of India.”
Wednesday marked the second day of the Lok Sabha debate on electoral reforms, after days of demands from the Opposition for a dedicated discussion on SIR.
