Apni Janata Party national president Swami Prasad Maurya raised questions regarding the functioning of EVMs, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Special Intensive Revision of Voter List (SIR) and the Election Commission. He demanded that elections should be conducted through ballot papers instead of EVMs and the names of living voters deleted during SIR should be restored.
Maurya demanded the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner and also appealed to the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter. Apart from this, he also expressed his opinion on India Bloc's proposed rally on November 1, seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh and BJP-SP relations.
Swami Prasad Maurya said that it is not the opposition but the public who is raising questions on the Election Commission. Misuse of EVMs has been discussed time and again and impartiality and transparency are expected from the Commission. After two other Election Commissioners raised questions on the role of the Chief Election Commissioner, he should resign on moral grounds. When this did not happen, he demanded action from President Draupadi Murmu.
Maurya appealed to the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance of this serious matter and take effective action. He said that it is important to maintain people's trust in constitutional institutions. For this, elections should be stopped from EVMs and voting should be done through ballot papers.
Alleging that crores of names of living voters have been deleted in the name of SIR, he also demanded their reinstatement and removal of the Chief Election Commissioner from the post.
On the question of the petition related to SIR being rejected in the Supreme Court, Maurya said that a situation of misuse of the Election Commission has arisen after the Chief Justice of India (CJI) was excluded from the process of appointment of election commissioners. Earlier, the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice were involved in the appointment process, then such questions were not raised on the Commission.
The Supreme Court appears to be under pressure from the government by agreeing to the functioning of the Commission. The court should have taken suo motu cognizance the moment the CJI was excluded from the appointment process. Due to not taking effective steps in this matter, the Supreme Court proved weak in front of the government.
On the proposed India Block rally in Delhi on November 1, Maurya said that it is the responsibility of the government to protect democracy and constitutional values. If the government is bent on suppressing democracy, then even the biggest demonstration cannot be effective.
He demanded the central government to give up its arrogance and resign. Also said that even today people are ready to fight to protect democracy.
On the closure of the market before Diwali and fear of loss to the traders, Maurya said that the protest is only for one day, whereas till Diwali there will be a full week. He clarified that he is not in favor of any kind of interference in the business of traders.
On the question asked regarding seat distribution in Uttar Pradesh elections, Maurya said that he will reveal it the day the talks take place. On the alleged collaboration between Samajwadi Party and BJP, he alleged that SP seems to be working on BJP's agenda and follows BJP's activities.
Maurya made a sharp comment on Baba Bageshwar's statement regarding full implementation of Ramcharitmanas. He said that such language of educated people who wear the robe of religion and become religious leaders shows their foolishness.
At the same time, on Baba Ramdev's statement that BJP will benefit from Owaisi contesting Uttar Pradesh elections, Maurya said that only he can tell why Ramdev is saying this. He said that India is a democratic country and the Constitution allows everyone to contest elections.