Gaya Ji, 19 Aug

Asserting that ‘vote chori’ is an attack on 'Bharat Mata', Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday warned the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the two Election Commissioners of stern action when the INDIA bloc forms government.

Intensifying his attack on the Election Commission, Gandhi also said the whole country would ask the poll body for an affidavit and if given time, his party would bring out the ‘vote chori’ in every Assembly and Lok Sabha Constituency.

The fresh attack on the EC by the Congress leader came a day after CEC Gyanesh Kumar served a seven-day ultimatum on him to submit a signed affidavit to back his vote theft claims, else his allegations will be considered baseless.

The Congress MP said that just like Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about special package, the poll body also brought in a "new special package" for Bihar, which is named SIR (Special Intensive Revision), a "new form of vote theft".

His remarks came on the second day of the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' which began in Sasaram on Sunday and then moved to Aurangabad before reaching Gaya Ji on Monday.

With RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, CPI (ML) Liberation's Dipankar Bhattacharya and Vikassheel Insan Party's Mukesh Sahani in tow, Gandhi resumed the second day from Dev Road, Kutumba and then moved to Rafiganj before reaching Daboor in Gaya Ji.

Addressing a gathering here, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha said the Election Commission was asking him to file an affidavit even after the poll body's "vote theft" had been caught.

"I want to tell the EC that the whole country will ask you to give an affidavit. Give us some time, we will catch your theft in every assembly and Lok Sabha seat, and put it before the people," he said.

"What did they do? Like PM (Narendra) Modi ji talks of a special package, the EC has brought a new special package for Bihar named SIR, which means a new form of vote theft," Gandhi said as he wound up the second day of the yatra at Khalees Park Chowk, Gaya Ji along with his Mahagathbandhan allies.

The former Congress chief also launched a direct attack on CEC Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

"Understand one thing, a day will come when there will be an INDIA bloc government in Bihar and Delhi; then we will take action against the three of you... You've stolen (vote) from the whole country," Gandhi said.

Amid rain, Gandhi held up a copy of the Constitution and said the Constitution is of Bharat Mata and has been framed by the likes of BR Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru.

"It has the voice of the soul of India. When they steal votes, they attack the Constitution and Bharat Mata. Nobody can touch this Constitution," he asserted.

"Election commissioners must hear out that if they don't do their job, there will be strict action against them," Gandhi added.

He said that after realising that ‘vote chori’ had happened in Maharashtra and Haryana, the Congress investigated and found evidence of it after analysing the data of one assembly segment of a Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka.

"I said clearly that one lakh votes were stolen in one assembly segment, and what does the Election Commission do? It does not say that the LoP has raised questions, and let us check it. Instead, they ask me to give an affidavit.

"Then they say 'why you did not complain earlier?' They say 'if you do not give an affidavit within a week, then this complaint has no meaning'," Gandhi said, adding, "They (EC) are responsible, their theft has been caught, and they are asking me to file an affidavit."

The Congress leader claimed that the poll authority got to know that their theft had been caught in Maharashtra and Haryana, which is why they have come up with a "new form of theft through SIR (of electoral rolls) in Bihar".

Gandhi asserted that Prime Minister Modi and the EC "will not succeed in carrying out 'vote chori' in Bihar".

In his first press conference after Gandhi levelled allegations of 'vote chori' in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and several opposition leaders flagged issues about the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, CEC Kumar asked the Congress leader to either apologise or back his claims with a signed affidavit as required under electoral rules.

"Give an affidavit or apologise to the nation. There is no third option. If an affidavit is not given within seven days, this means that all allegations are baseless," said Kumar on Sunday, flanked by Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi said the SIR of electoral rollsis a "new weapon" for ‘vote chori’ and vowed to protect the ‘one person, one vote’ principle.

Gandhi made the remarks in a post on his WhatsApp channel while talking about his meeting with a group of people who had cast their votes in the previous Lok Sabha elections but their names were deleted from the draft electoral rolls during the SIR exercise in Bihar.

He met the group at the launch of his Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar's Sasaram on Sunday.