New Delhi/Bengaluru [India], August 14 (ANI): The Congress party has intensified its attack on the BJP and the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging collusion and manipulation of voter lists, while announcing a series of nationwide protests.
Congress leader Pawan Khera on Wednesday accused BJP leader Anurag Thakur’s quick access to voter data for two parliamentary constituencies of indicating an “understanding” between the ruling party and the EC. Khera contrasted the speed with which the BJP obtained the data with the four to six months it took the Congress to collect similar information for a single Assembly constituency. He alleged that Thakur may have directly accessed the “electronic voter list,” calling it “evidence of crime.”
Khera also claimed that by raising concerns over fake votes in Wayanad and Kannauj, Thakur had inadvertently validated the Opposition’s allegations of irregularities in electoral rolls. “When you say this is a fake voter list, we too are saying the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were held on a fake voter list, so the elections should be considered illegitimate and cancelled,” Khera said, demanding that the electronic voter list for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi constituency be made public.
The remarks came after Thakur, in a press conference at the BJP headquarters, accused Congress of a long history of undermining the EC whenever it lost elections, and alleged electoral fraud by Congress and CPI in defeating Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in 1952.
Meanwhile, in Bengaluru, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge demanded answers from the EC on alleged discrepancies in the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency. He claimed Congress had submitted evidence based on local sources but, instead of verifying it, the EC was “intimidating” opposition leaders. “We are not going to yield to this. We demand answers from the EC on what happened in Bengaluru Central,” Kharge said.
These allegations follow comments by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who claimed that 1,00,250 “fake votes” were created in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of Bengaluru Central to ensure a BJP victory, accusing the EC of collusion with the ruling party to secure Prime Minister Modi’s third term.
In response, Congress MP KC Venugopal announced a nationwide ‘Vote chor, gaddi chhodd’ rally on August 14 at 8 pm in all districts, followed by state-level rallies from August 21 to September 7, and a massive signature campaign from September 15 to October 15 to collect five crore signatures to be submitted to the EC. The protests are aimed at pressing for a foolproof voter list and holding fresh discussions on electoral reforms.
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