Speaking to reporters, Sahani said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he described as the person running the country, was responsible for what he called an assault on democracy and the Constitution. He alleged that the Constitution framed by Dr BR Ambedkar was being undermined and that the eyes of the country's 140 crore people were being covered while they were being pushed in a particular direction.
Sahani said elections were not held for any particular leader but for the people, who have the power to remove a leader from office if they do not perform properly.
He alleged that in West Bengal, the government was formed by deploying the Army and removing 27 lakh votes. He further alleged that in the Bihar election, the election was influenced by depositing Rs 10,000 into people's bank accounts. Sahani said the Election Commission had become an "Election Commission of the BJP."
Addressing Gyanesh Kumar directly, Sahani said that time does not remain the same every day and accused him of playing with the country's Constitution. He said, "If I were forgiven for one murder, the first person I would have shot would be Gyanesh Kumar," but added that he and his supporters were people who believed in the Constitution.
Sahani further said that Kumar would not be spared in the future. He claimed that a government led by Rahul Gandhi would be formed at the Centre in 2029 and that Kumar would be the first person to go to jail. He also said that everyone who supported Kumar would go to jail. Sahani questioned why elections were being held if the people's mandate was allegedly being manipulated and said elections should be stopped, arguing that crores of rupees of public money were being spent while the mandate was being influenced.
He also questioned the need for three Election Commissioners, saying that only one could have been appointed, and said the people of the country needed to understand these issues.
Sahani's remarks came amid reports concerning the management and handling of electoral-roll data and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. A report by The Indian Express said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months regarding decisions and orders issued in the name of the Election Commission. The reported concerns included the addition, deletion and restoration of voters' names, changes to Form 6 and the management of the voter database.
The reported objections also covered the centralisation of the electoral-roll database in Delhi and issues related to voter registration, deletion and restoration. The two commissioners were reported to have raised concerns about aspects of the SIR process and the handling of electoral data.
The Election Commission, however, has rejected suggestions of an internal rupture and said that all decisions, including those related to SIR, were taken unanimously with the approval of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and both Election Commissioners. The poll panel said that individual opinions, observations and comments during deliberations should not be treated as separate decisions of the Commission.
The contrasting claims have placed renewed attention on the Election Commission's functioning, electoral-roll management and the SIR process, while Sahani's remarks have added a sharply confrontational political dimension to the ongoing debate.
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