Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that erasing even a single vote amounts to "vote chori" and asserted that everyone involved in the act, from the lowest to the highest level, would be held accountable.
He also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi uses Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to "steal elections".
The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha shared on social media a video of his visit to a 'jhuggi' in Bela Estate on the banks of the Yamuna in the national capital on Monday evening.
In his post accompanying the video, Gandhi said, "'Are we citizens or refugees?' - this is the direct question posed by the residents of the Bela Cluster 'jhuggis'. They have lived here for generations, working as farmers and labourers, and casting their votes in every election. Yet, the names of 728 out of 729 voters were struck off the rolls."
"They possess the documents; they have proof of their Indian identity. And yet, these unfortunate people are forced to wander from office to office, from one official to another," he said.
"Will you strip them of their rights as citizens simply because they are poor? Will you take away their voting rights just because they are homeless," he asked.
Asserting that the Constitution upholds the principle of 'one person, one vote', Gandhi said erasing even a single vote is not merely an administrative action but "vote chori".
"And everyone involved in this theft - from the bottom to the top - will be held accountable. Rest assured, they will be," he said.
In another post earlier in the day, Gandhi said, "Q. Why is CEC Gyanesh Kumar the only Indian with lifelong blanket legal immunity? A. Because PM Modi uses him to steal elections."
After his visit to the 'jhuggi' in Bela Estate, Gandhi on Monday had said the ongoing SIR was a method of "vote chori" and asserted that CEC Kumar will go but the system that made him do this will also have to answer.
Gandhi's remarks and visit to Bela Estate came days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
(With inputs from PTI)
