Aurangabad (Bihar) [India], August 17 : The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Sunday hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission (ECI) for "manipulating" voter lists, alleging that votes were being stolen in the name of "Special Intensive Revision" (SIR).
The Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD Leader Tejashwi Yadav today held a 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Aurangabad district.
Addressing the public at the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Aurangabad, the Congress MP said, "SIR means stealing votes from the people of Bihar. Earlier, they used to do it secretly. Now they are doing it openly in front of everyone."
He launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP, stating that neither he, nor Tejeshwi Yadav, nor the people of Bihar are afraid of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and the Election Commission.
"The people of the election commission say that yes, we will cut voters, and we will not tell you, we will not show you the voter list. What will you do? I will tell you what we will do. We are going to show you the power of the people. We are going to show you the power of Bihar. Modi ji, Amit Shah ji and people of the Election Commission should understand that I am not afraid of you, neither Tejeshwi Yadav nor Bihar. I am saying this as a guarantee, the truth of vote theft. We will put it in front of every citizen of India, in front of their eyes," he later added.
The Congress MP alleged that the Election Commission, saying, "The Election Commission asks for an affidavit from me. But when Anurag Thakur says the same thing that I am saying, it does not ask for an affidavit from him."
The Leader of Opposition further claimed that in Maharashtra, the INDI bloc won the Lok Sabha elections, but the BJP swept the Vidhan Sabha elections held four months later.
"Wherever new voters came, the BJP won there. Our votes did not decrease. The INDIA alliance got as many votes in the Vidhan Sabha as it had in the Lok Sabha. BJP got all the new voters. So we got suspicious," Rahul Gandhi said.
The Congress leader alleged that when the INDIA bloc asked the Election Commission to explain the sudden addition of new voters, the poll panel refused to respond.
"Election Commission tells us that we will not explain. We do not need you to explain. Then we told them that you have installed CCTVs. The law is that CCTV cameras will have to be provided to any party asking for CCTV. They say they will not provide CCTV. Then we said give us the voter list. They say they will not provide the electronic voter list. The Election Commission and the BJP together have committed theft in Bengaluru Central. I am telling you this with a guarantee," the Congress MP added.
The Congress party is currently holding a 16-day 'Voter Adhikar Yatra', protesting against the alleged 'vote chori' that Opposition parties have accused the Election Commission and the BJP of perpetrating.
The yatra began from Bihar's Sasaram today, with several leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Pawan Khera, Kanhaiya Kumar and others participating.
The Chief Election Commisioner of India on Sunday refuted allegations of "vote theft" by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and asked him to either furnish a signed affidavit or apologise to the nation for his remarks.
The CEC also termed the allegations of bias by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabhas as an "insult" to the Constitution of India."...An affidavit will have to be given or an apology should be made to the country. Teesra koi vikalp nahi (There is no third option.) If the affidavit is not received within 7 days, it means that all these allegations are baseless..." CEC Gyanesh Kumar said while addressing mediapersons at a briefing at the National Media Centre in the national capital.
Rahul Gandhi had on August 7 addressed a press conference in New Delhi, in which he presented Congress' research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, a part of the Bangalore Central parliamentary constituency. Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes ,including duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and bulk registrations of votes at single locations.