Raebareli (UP), Sept 10: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the slogan ‘vote chor, gaddi chhod’ (vote thief, vacate your seat of power) is being proved across the country and the party will establish it in “more dramatic ways”.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is in Uttar Pradesh for a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency Raebareli.
Talking to reporters before entering an event venue, Gandhi said, “The main slogan is ‘vote chor, gaddi chhod’ and that is being proved across the country. We will prove it again and again in more and more dramatic ways.”
Speaking at a programme of party workers from Harchandpur Vidhan Sabha in Dedauli, Gandhi referred to alleged instances of vote theft in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
While media was not allowed in the programme, PTI learnt that the Congress leader said that there was evidence in “black and white” of vote theft in the Maharashtra and Karnataka assembly elections.
“In Maharashtra, our party and our alliance won in the Lok Sabha, and four months later, we were wiped out in the assembly. When we investigated, we learnt that nearly one crore new voters had entered the election system after the Lok Sabha elections. Our and our allies’ votes remained the same, but all the new votes went to the BJP,” a source quoted Gandhi as saying.
According to the source, Gandhi said there was no change in the votes polled for the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena, but the BJP’s tally saw a “huge jump”, with every newly added voter going in its favour.
The Congress MP said the Election Commission (EC) was asked to investigate the matter and explain how one crore new voters appeared in four months.
“The Commission refused, saying they will not give us the list nor provide any video,” the source said, quoting the Congress leader.
Gandhi further alleged that similar irregularities surfaced in Karnataka. Congress workers scrutinised voters in one assembly segment of Bengaluru Central and found two lakh fake voters which led to the BJP’s victory there.
“Bengaluru Central has seven assembly constituencies. Our workers spent four months investigating just one, and that is what they found,” Gandhi said in the meeting.
Accusing the BJP of stealing votes, he alleged that such incidents were not limited to Bengaluru or Maharashtra.
“This has happened in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, and in Gujarat it has happened on a massive scale. Gradually, we are presenting all the evidence before you,” Gandhi said, according to the source.
Referring to his recent election tour in Bihar, Gandhi also claimed that similar irregularities were noticed there as well.
“Some people who are alive have been struck off the voter list. They are not being treated as alive in the records,” he alleged.
Gandhi alleged that jobs had been taken away from the youth of the country and the government wanted to steal the rights of farmers and labourers.
He claimed that the government aimed to hand over the country’s roads, railways, infrastructure and resources to industrialists Adani and Ambani, and take away the wealth of the poor.
Referring to the recent wedding celebrations of the Ambani family, he alleged that “crores of rupees were spent” and asked where the money came from, asserting that it was public money.
“The purpose of vote theft is to once again make the people of India slaves so that they cannot ask questions, cannot protect their wealth, the youth remain unemployed and they (the government) continue to rule,” he claimed.
He said this can be stopped only by the Congress which he called a party of ideology, citing Uttar Pradesh as an example. He said the Congress was capable of defeating the BJP and its foundation lay in Raebareli.
Addressing booth workers of the party, Gandhi said those who support the Congress are not just protecting the party but also safeguarding the Constitution, which states that the wealth of India belongs to all its citizens and not just a few industrialists. (PTI)
