Patna: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has alleged that there is a deliberate attempt to “steal the election” in Bihar, as opposition parties protest against a special voter revision drive being carried out ahead of the state assembly elections.
Addressing a crowd near Shaheed Smarak Chowk in Patna during a rally called by the Grand Alliance as part of a state-wide bandh, Gandhi criticised the Election Commission and accused it of acting in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“There was voter theft in Maharashtra and Haryana. In Haryana, there were irregularities in the polls. In Maharashtra, new voters and the votes of the poor were diverted to the BJP,” he said. “Now the same model is being used in Bihar. They know we have understood what happened in Maharashtra, so they’ve brought in a new model for Bihar.”
Holding a copy of the Indian Constitution during his speech, he underlined the democratic right to vote, saying: “The Constitution clearly states that every citizen must have the right to one vote. But what we are witnessing is an organised attempt to take that right away from the poor.”
He also took aim at the Election Commission’s neutrality, saying Congress representatives had met the Election Commissioner recently and felt he was echoing the views of the BJP and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
“They are forgetting that they do not belong to any political party,” he said. “Their duty is to uphold the Constitution, not to act as an extension of the ruling party.”
The Grand Alliance, a coalition of opposition parties in Bihar, has called for the state-wide bandh to protest what they claim is a politically motivated voter revision process aimed at disenfranchising marginalised communities.
