NEW DELHI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) senior leader TKS Elangovan on Wednesday backed Rahul Gandhi on protests against the Election Commission (EC), saying that citizens have a right to protest the government’s wrongdoings.His remarks came a day after DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai questioned Rahul Gandhi over his “silence” on deletions linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Tamil Nadu.“It is the right of citizens to fight against the government’s wrongdoings. That is what Rahul Gandhi did yesterday. Still, this government does not want him to protest because Gyanesh Kumar is being very useful to the BJP. Because of him, the BJP captured power in many states. In all these states, re-elections should be held,” Elangovan told ANI.On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi was detained at Akashvani Bhavan, the All India Radio headquarters, where he staged a nine-hour sit-in after police stopped opposition MPs from marching to the EC’s office in the capital.The Opposition has been demanding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation following a report by The Indian Express last month that the two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had formally recorded objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months to several decisions they said were taken by the poll panel without their knowledge. The objections included decisions related to SIR.The EC is required to take decisions either by consensus or by a 2-1 majority.Meanwhile, Elangovan questioned how elections could be free and fair if Gyanesh Kumar continued in office.“How can elections be fair if Gyanesh Kumar, holding a high post, is anti-democratic? He should definitely be removed,” the DMK MP remarked.
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What did DMK spokesperson say
On Tuesday, even as the Lok Sabha leader of opposition was staging his sit-in, DMK spokesperson Annadurai wrote on X: “What’s the stand of @RahulGandhi with regard to the deletions through SIR in TN? Why is he not endorsing (Congress president) Kharge ji’s statement that all state governments elected after SIR should be dissolved.He also questioned whether Rahul Gandhi was not speaking about SIR-related deletions in Tamil Nadu out of “fear” of chief minister C Joseph Vijay, whose Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) is a Congress ally.“What a duplicitous man? Once a skunk, always a skunk,” the DMK spokesperson added.The DMK snapped ties with the Congress and left the Congress-led INDIA bloc after the party decided to support TVK, which emerged as the single largest party in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections in April. TVK governs the state with the support of the Congress, Left parties and the IUML.
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