Water Cannons Used as Rajasthan Congress Protests Alleged ‘Vote Theft’

The Rajasthan Congress on Monday staged a protest in Jaipur against alleged vote theft and irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with police using water cannons to disperse party workers marching towards the State Election Commission office.

Congress workers gathered at Shaheed Smarak, where senior leaders addressed the protesters before the march began. Police stopped the demonstrators soon after they moved ahead and deployed water cannons to disperse them. A large police contingent was stationed at the site, while barricades were erected and traffic on MI Road diverted.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly Tikaram Jully and former minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas were lifted onto workers' shoulders as protesters raised slogans.

Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of being responsible for alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise and alleged that the process had undermined democracy.

Dotasra said Monday's demonstration was only the beginning and announced that Congress workers would take the issue to people across the state.

Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said democratic institutions were being weakened and urged party workers to remain alert. Referring to the recent urban local body elections, Gehlot alleged that wrong and arbitrary ward delimitation contributed to the Congress' defeat and accused the government of misusing police and administrative machinery.

Congress Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also alleged that the BJP was attempting to weaken democracy and said the party would continue the agitation and take the issue to the people.

The protest comes amid a reported dispute within the Election Commission over a work-allocation order concerning electoral-roll updates. The Indian Express reported on September 25 that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had separately written to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan, expressing concern that the order could concentrate powers over adding, deleting and updating voter records at the central level rather than with state-level officials.