The Congress on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, accusing them of bearing responsibility for what the party called systematic “vote chori” and manipulation of the electoral process.The demands followed a two-and-a-half-hour meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), during which it passed a resolution accusing the Election Commission (EC) of allowing the electoral process to be “captured” and calling for the immediate resignation of CEC Kumar. It also sought the suspension of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the restoration of names “illegally” deleted from the voter lists.Addressing the media after the CWC meeting, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said: “In the SIR process and election procedure, it is the duty of the Prime Minister to intervene…Modi no longer has the moral responsibility or moral right to continue as Prime Minister.”Venugopal said the CWC had concluded that the situation warranted a sustained political campaign, asserting that “democracy was under threat” under the present electoral system. Stepping up the attack on the CEC, he warned that the Congress would build a wider resistance demanding Kumar’s resignation.The Congress leader said 68 members participated in the CWC meeting, during which alleged manipulation of electoral rolls and concerns about the EC’s functioning were discussed in detail.He said the CWC congratulated Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for raising one of the most important issues concerning Indian democracy through its “vote chori” campaign.Venugopal said Rahul had for the past 18-19 months been presenting “evidence of irregularities in the electoral process”. He alleged that both voter lists and EVMs were being “compromised” and accused the BJP of using electoral machinery to influence election outcomes. He further alleged that the “vote chori” was being organised by the CEC on behalf of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, and the Congress would therefore demand Modi’s resignation as well.The Congress has also focused its attack on the scale of deletions allegedly carried out during the SIR exercise. Venugopal claimed that the party’s assessments indicated that more than 13 crore names had been deleted from electoral rolls during the exercise. He said the Congress would now take its campaign to the grassroots and approach voters whose names had been removed from the electoral rolls. “Our workers staged protests across 800 districts yesterday,” Venugopal said.Earlier in the day, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, addressing the Congress Working Committee (CWC), alleged that the government was systematically weakening democratic institutions and electoral rolls were being manipulated to disenfranchise voters. He called for the immediate removal of CEC Kumar and urged PM Modi to resign on “moral grounds.”Kharge alleged that the BJP and the RSS were pursuing a “complete plan” to undermine the independence of institutions created by the country’s founding leaders. Targeting the EC and Kumar, Kharge said how the country could repose confidence in the CEC if, his own colleagues had raised objections to his functioning.He alleged that electoral officials were arbitrarily deleting voters’ names at the behest of the BJP and the Modi government. The Congress has been intensifying its campaign over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls amid the controversy surrounding the SIR. Kharge said the Congress’ criticism was not aimed at weakening the EC but at ensuring that it remained independent and credible.