NAWADA: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that a "partnership" has been going on between the Election Commission and the BJP to "steal votes," and asserted that the Mahagathbandhan will not allow even a single vote to be stolen in Bihar.
Addressing a gathering at Bhagat Singh Chowk on the third day of his Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, Gandhi said the right to vote has been given to the people by the Constitution, and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Election Commissioners are "snatching" it away from them.
"This is your right, given to you by the Constitution, and Modi, Shah, and the Election Commissioners are snatching it away from you.
(RJD's) Tejashwi (Yadav), I, and the other (Mahagathbandhan) leaders standing here want to tell them that we will not let you steal even a single vote in Bihar," Gandhi said.
He alleged that the EC-BJP nexus has "stolen" elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh.
In Maharashtra, about 1 crore voters were mysteriously added between the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, Gandhi claimed. He said the Congress asked the EC to provide a machine-readable voters' list and CCTV footage, but the poll body refused.
"Now in Bihar, they are carrying out 'vote chori' in a new manner. They are doing this chori (theft) right before your eyes, but we will not let them steal votes," said the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Warning the people, he said, "First, your voter card will go. Then your ration card will go. And finally, your land will be handed over to Adani and Ambani," Gandhi alleged.
This country belongs to farmers, labourers, small traders, and the youth—not to a few billionaires like Adani and Ambani, he added.
Gandhi said all the wrong laws, including GST and demonetisation, were aimed at benefiting a few billionaires.
"You give money and resources, and yet the country cannot give you employment. This has to change, and that is why we have started this Voter Adhikar Yatra," he said in his address to the people, standing atop his vehicle, flanked by RJD's Tejashwi Yadav and CPI(ML) Liberation's Dipankar Bhattacharya.
At the start of his address, Gandhi invited a person whose name had been removed from the voters’ list to speak.
The person said he had been a polling agent in the Lok Sabha polls, but his name had been removed during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
"There are lakhs of such people in Bihar who voted, but their names have now been cut from the voters’ list," Gandhi said.
"There is a partnership going on between the BJP and the Election Commission. They are colluding to indulge in vote chori," he charged.
Asserting that "vote chori" is an attack on Bharat Mata, Gandhi on Monday had warned the Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners of stern action once the INDIA bloc forms the government.
Intensifying his attack on the Election Commission, Gandhi also said the whole country would demand an affidavit from the poll body and, if given time, his party would expose the "vote chori" in every Assembly and Lok Sabha constituency.
On Tuesday, the Yatra began from Wazirganj in Gaya and entered Nawada later in the day.
The Yatra will conclude with a rally in Patna on September 1.
It is being undertaken in a hybrid mode—on foot and by vehicle—similar to Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur to Mumbai ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
The Yatra will also pass through Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Munger, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Purnea, Araria, and Supaul.