New Delhi [India], August 16 : The Congress party continued its attack on the BJP over alleged 'vote theft' on Saturday, with senior leader Pawan Khera accusing the ruling party of tampering with the voter list by fraudulently adding and removing names.
Khera said that if the SIR process hadn't begun in Bihar, many irregularities in the voter list would have remained hidden.
He added that the situation became so serious that even the Supreme Court had to step in, and the Election Commission was forced to accept the Congress party's demands.
Speaking at the press conference, Pawan Khera said, "Yesterday we celebrated our 79th Independence Day, and tomorrow, on 17th August, we will start our Vote Adhikar Yatra in Bihar. It is possible to breathe freely in independent India because it is possible to vote. If we cannot vote, we will not be able to breathe freely in independent India. This is why Rahul Gandhi has started this struggle."
He praised the people of Bihar, the Congress, and the INDIA alliance for raising their voices against the alleged conspiracy.
"The way the BJP is adding and cutting votes fraudulently, they have been caught with their very hands. If SIR had not been started in Bihar, perhaps many things would not have come to light. The situation reached such a stage that even the Supreme Court had to intervene, and the Election Commission had to accept our demands... The people of Bihar, the Congress Party, and the INDIA alliance raised their voices against the conspiracy that was being hatched," he added.
Earlier in the day, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, shared a spoof video inspired by the film Laapataa Ladies, reiterating the Congress's "vote theft" allegations against the Election Commission and urging people to join the 'Vote Chori se Azaadi' campaign.
Sharing the video on X, Rahul Gandhi wrote, "Chori chori, chupke chupke... ab or nahi, janta jag gayi hai, (Secretly, stealthily... No more now, the public has awakened)."
The video shows a middle-aged man at a police station submitting a theft complaint. When asked by a policeman, "What has been stolen?" the man hesitates before replying, "Vote." The policeman reacts in shock and asks, "How's this possible?" The video ends with the message, "Theft of your vote is theft of your right." The clip is based on a scene in Laapataa Ladies where a husband goes to the police station to report that his wife has been exchanged.