Desk Report,
Election Commission is stealing votes for BJP, alleges Rahul Gandhi
During the debate on the thorough revision of the voter list in Bihar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made serious allegations of vote rigging against the Election Commission of India (EC). On Friday, he said in the Parliament premises that according to the opposition’s investigation, the EC is stealing votes on a large scale to benefit the ruling BJP.
Election Commission is stealing votes for BJP, alleges Rahul Gandhi
Rahul said that what has come out of their investigation is an ‘atomic bomb’. When that bomb explodes, the Election Commission will have no place to hide its face.
At a time when the opposition is adamant in opposing the thorough revision of the voter list in Bihar and demanding a discussion on it, and the Parliament is paralyzed, Rahul’s demand has brought a different dimension to the opposition movement. Without naming the EC officials, Rahul said that those who are the masters of this vote rigging, those who are involved in this misdeed, will not be spared. No one will be spared from top to bottom.
Addressing the EC officials, Rahul said, ‘What you are doing is treason. We will find each and every one of you. Even if he retires, no one will be left out.’
In the wake of Rahul’s allegations, the Election Commission issued a statement. It said that they do not take such baseless allegations into account. Such allegations are happening almost daily. The Commission staff has been instructed to ignore these allegations and work transparently.
While demonstrating against the combined opposition on the premises of the Parliament House over Bihar, Rahul told the media on Friday, ‘We first had doubts during the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. We understood that the EC had somehow rigged. That suspicion increased during the Lok Sabha elections. Then the Maharashtra Assembly elections turned that suspicion into belief.’ He said, ‘We were surprised to see that suddenly the names of 1 crore new voters appeared in the final voter list. Then we understood that there would be no use in telling the Commission. They would not want to accept it. They would not do anything. At that time, it was decided that we would take the initiative and investigate ourselves. That investigation went on for six months. What came out of that investigation was nothing less than an atomic bomb. If that bomb explodes, the EC officials will have no place to hide their faces.’
The Congress’s criticism of the Election Commission, especially Rahul Gandhi, is not new. Last June, Rahul wrote an article in The Indian Express. There, he mentioned 5 steps. These included appointing his own people as Election Commissioners, registering fake voters in the electoral rolls, increasing the number of voters, selectively registering fake voters in seats where the BJP is weak, and hiding information and evidence. He wrote that it is not difficult to understand why the BJP is desperate to win Maharashtra. Rigging in elections and match-fixing are one thing. In this way, elections can be won, but the trust of the constitutional institutions and people is destroyed.
In that article, Rahul wrote that after Maharashtra, match-fixing will take place in Bihar. Then in those states where the BJP has little chance of winning.
On Friday, the EC handed over the draft electoral roll of Bihar to various political parties. It contains statistics of a total of 90,817 booths in the state. All opposition parties are against this SIR (Separate Number of Voters) and are adamant in demanding a discussion on it. For this reason, a letter has been written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Opposition leaders have said that they will not allow the Parliament to function unless the role of the Election Commission in the preparation of the Bihar voter list is discussed. On Friday, both houses of parliament were adjourned on that demand.
A case is going on in the Supreme Court regarding the SIR of Bihar. The Supreme Court did not want to stay the initiative of the Election Commission to revise the voter list. However, the judges said that they can cancel the entire process if they find irregularities. The Supreme Court had recommended the commission to accept Aadhaar card, ration card and voter card issued by the EC as identity documents of voters; but the EC did not want to accept it.
