Nashik (Maharashtra) [India], August 15 : Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan on Friday slammed Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, over his allegations of "vote theft" against the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Referring to the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, Mahajan stated that the Congress party had won several seats in Maharashtra and did not raise issues with the voter list. He claimed that the party only raised concerns after losing in the state assembly elections.
"Rahul Gandhi won such good seats in Maharashtra, he did not see any problems in the voter list then, now that he has lost at Vidhan Sabha, he is running around with the voter list...One person can fill a form at two places and get his name at two places...mistakes can happen," Girish Mahajan told ANI.
Earlier on Thursday, ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi announced the launch of the "VoterAdhikarYatra" against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, urging people to join what he called a "people's movement".
Making the announcement in a post on X, the Congress MP said, "From August 17, with #VoterAdhikarYatra, we are launching a direct fight against vote theft from the soil of Bihar," he said in a post on social media X.
The announcement came amid the continuous protests by the INDIA bloc leaders and amid its campaign of alleged "vote chori" (vote theft)."This is not just an election issue - it is a decisive battle to protect democracy, the constitution, and the principle of 'one man, one vote.' We will ensure a clean voter list across the entire country. Youth, workers, farmers - every citizen, rise and join this people's movement. This time, the defeat of vote thieves - the victory of the people, the victory of the constitution"
On August 7, Rahul Gandhi had accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of "collusion," alleging it helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi secure a third term.
Rahul Gandhi said that the Election Commission is helping the BJP destroy the electoral system in India.
"Narendra Modi became Prime Minister with just a margin of 25 seats...Election Commission is helping BJP destroy the electoral system in India...The Election Commission is not giving us the data because of what we did in Mahadevpur (Karnataka Assembly constituency); if we do it in other Lok Sabha seats, then the truth about our democracy will come out. This is the evidence, criminal evidence (pointing to the physical voter list)," Rahul Gandhi said.