‘Vote theft being institutionalised’: Rahul Gandhi hits out at EC, BJP over SIR

Pachmarhi (MP), Nov 9: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Sunday, alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is an attempt to cover up and institutionalise “vote theft”.

“A few days ago, I gave a presentation on Haryana, and I clearly saw that vote theft was taking place… 25 lakh votes were stolen; one in eight votes. After looking at the data, I believe the same thing happened in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh. This is the system of the BJP and the Election Commission,” Gandhi told the press.

Gandhi, who arrived in the hill town of Pachmarhi in Narmadapuram on Saturday to attend the Madhya Pradesh district Congress presidents’ training camp, claimed the SIR is part of a larger effort to “institutionalise” electoral manipulation.

“Vote theft is an issue, and SIR now is about covering it up and institutionalising the system,” the Congress MP alleged.

The Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of the voters’ list began on November 4 across nine states and three Union Territories.

The large-scale exercise will cover nearly 51 crore electors across 321 districts and 1,843 Assembly constituencies.

Responding to a question on whether he would reveal more such findings, Gandhi said that they have a lot of different and detailed information, and “we will release it”. “Right now, only a little has been shown,” he said.

“My issue is that democracy is being attacked; Ambedkar’s Constitution is being attacked. Prime Minister Modi ji, Home Minister Amit Shah ji, and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh ji are doing this directly through a joint partnership. Because of this, the country is suffering; Bharat Mata is being harmed,” he alleged.

For the SIR, the Election Commission has deployed over 5.3 lakh booth-level officers (BLOs), 10,448 electoral registration officers, and 321 district election officers.

In addition, 7.64 lakh booth-level agents (BLAs) from political parties are assisting the BLOs in the field.

The draft electoral rolls will be released on December 9, while the final rolls are expected on February 7.

Reacting to Gandhi’s remarks, Election Commission officials said the Congress leader was flagging impurities in past polls while opposing the ongoing revision aimed at cleaning up the rolls.

The Commission also asserted that Gandhi’s allegations of vote manipulation are “unfounded”, noting that no appeals were filed against the electoral rolls in Haryana, nor were any instances of multiple voting reported.

PTI