Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal addresses a press conference regarding the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)Both the AAP and the CPI(M) have come hard on the BJP and its alleged hold over the Election Commission following recent revelations that the SIR process was given the nod despite objections among the Election Commissioners.The AAP described the deletion of voters from the electoral rolls through the SIR process, which allegedly put the BJP in an advantageous position to win, as the biggest scam in independent India.Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal described Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar as the ‘chief’ of the vote chori and demanded his immediate arrest.Also Read | CEC must go, Supreme Court should act, pause SIR: Opposition after Election Commission divide out in open“So far, people in this country had only heard about Narendra Modi and Amit Shah winning elections by vote chori. Today, a story published by The Indian Express has established that they are actually stealing votes and winning elections through a massive vote scam,” Kejriwal said in a press conference on Wednesday.“The mastermind behind this ‘vote chori’ is CEC Gyanesh Kumar. We demand that Kumar be arrested and prosecuted. We also demand that all elections held in Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Haryana over the past few years be cancelled and conducted afresh,” he added.Meanwhile, the Left parties, CPI(M) and the CPI, called the recent revelations as one that questions the very integrity of the Election Commission. Both have called for Gyanesh Kumar to be removed from the CEC post.CPI(M) leader and Rajya Sabha member John Brittas, in a statement, said the revelations in The Indian Express report raise serious questions not just about the election process, but more importantly about the integrity of the Election Commission itself.Story continues below this ad“The disclosures have only strengthened suspicions and concerns that the CPI(M), other Opposition parties and civil society organisations have all along raised since the SIR process was initiated,” he wrote.Also Read | 14 times in 10 months, two Election Commissioners objected on record to poll panel stepsHe has also written to President Droupadi Murmu seeking her “urgent intervention” on the matter. “With over 13 crore names reportedly struck off draft rolls across 30 States/UTs so far and over 33 lakh Delhi voters issued notices, I have urged that the pending proceedings for removal of the CEC proceed without obstruction, and that the Union Government take a clear stand before the Supreme Court seeking annulment of the SIR wherever it is found unlawful,” he wrote.CPI General Secretary D Raja, too, said the matter is a “grave crisis” and the CEC was the face of an “electoral purge”. “The CPI has consistently warned that governments cannot be allowed to handpick voters in a democracy. CEC Gyanesh Kumar has become the face of the electoral purge, eroding public trust in the constitutional body. He has no right to continue, and to restore trust and credibility in the ECI, he must resign,” Raja said.