Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is focusing on 70 Lok Sabha seats where the party lost by less than 50,000 votes, alleging vote theft in the last elections.
New Delhi: The Congress party is intensifying its allegations of vote theft during the last Lok Sabha elections and recent assembly polls, claiming collusion between the Election Commission and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Sources indicate that Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is concentrating on approximately 70 parliamentary seats across various states where the Congress lost by a margin of less than 50,000 votes.
On August 7, Rahul Gandhi held a press conference in which he specifically addressed the alleged vote theft in Bengaluru Central’s Mahadevpura assembly seat. He claimed that over 100,000 votes were “stolen” through methods such as duplicate entries, fake addresses, and bulk registrations at single locations.
Congress sources revealed that on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi met with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal. This meeting took place just hours before a gathering of the party’s general secretaries, state in-charges, and leaders of various frontal organizations to discuss the alleged vote theft and the need for a special intensive revision of voter rolls.
During the meeting, Gandhi emphasized the importance of investigating the 70 parliamentary seats where the Congress lost by narrow margins. He expressed concerns about the validity of the BJP’s victories in these constituencies, similar to the scrutiny the party has applied to the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha seat.
Additionally, Gandhi advocated for the use of machine-readable voter rolls, a demand he recently raised with the Election Commission. He pointed out that digital formats would facilitate easier verification of the authenticity of voter rolls compared to physical copies. Gandhi expressed surprise at the Election Commission’s refusal to share these digital formats with the Congress party.
In the coming days, Gandhi is expected to hold multiple press conferences to further highlight these issues. During the meeting, Sachin Pilot, the party’s in-charge for Chhattisgarh, cautioned that not all losing candidates should attribute their defeats solely to “vote chori” (vote theft) as a means to deflect from their own shortcomings.
The Congress party has planned a series of events to raise awareness about these allegations. A torch rally, or “mashal juloos,” is scheduled for August 14, followed by a “vote chor, gaddi chod” rally from August 23 to September 14. Additionally, the party will launch a signature campaign against what they describe as widespread vote theft from September 15 to October 15.
During his August 7 press conference, Gandhi referred to the alleged vote theft as “bhayankar chori” (massive theft) and connected it to the SIR (Systematic Voter’s Education and Electoral Participation) exercise in Bihar. The Election Commission has denied these allegations, with officials from Karnataka and Haryana’s election offices requesting Gandhi to provide evidence to support his claims. The Karnataka CEO even asked Gandhi to submit a signed declaration and oath, to which he responded that his public statements could be regarded as an oath.
Gandhi is set to launch his “Matdata Adhikar Yatra” on August 17 in Sasaram, Bihar, to address the alleged vote theft and the SIR exercise by the Election Commission. This yatra will last for approximately 15 days and will include participation from partners in the Mahagatbandhan, such as Tejashwi Yadav from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The campaign will conclude in Ara district.
As the Congress party gears up for these initiatives, the focus remains on the integrity of the electoral process and the validity of the results in the contested constituencies.
Source: Original article