Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, during the 'Vote Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar's Sasaram district, vowed to expose any theft of votes, whether it happens in Maharashtra, Bihar, or elsewhere in the future.
"The entire country knows what the Election Commission is doing. Earlier, the country did not know how votes were being stolen. But we made it clear in the press conference how votes are being stolen. Whenever the theft is happening, whether in Bihar, Maharashtra, Assam, Bengal, we will catch the theft and working to show the people," Rahul Gandhi said.
He described Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) as a "conspiracy" by the Election Commission, adding that the 'vote theft has been exposed' and the Opposition will fight against the alleged stealing of elections.
"I am telling you from this stage that Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections are being stolen in the entire country. Their latest conspiracy is to conduct SIR in Bihar and steal the Bihar elections as well by cutting the new votes and adding fake ones. All of us have come to this stage to tell you that we will not let them steal this election," he added.
Speaking about the role of the poor in preventing vote theft, he said, "Bihar's population will not let this theft happen. Why? Because poor people only have the vote, and we will not let vote chori happen."
Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav accused the Election Commission and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to scam the people of Bihar regarding the voter list.
"Narendra Modi is dead set on destroying the lives of the youth of Bihar. Modi makes the illiterate clap for him and does politics. But we do the politics of giving work to everyone's hand. Today that is why we are here. Election Commission, Modi Bihario ko choona lagana chahate hai (want to scam the people of Bihar). Do not think of Biharis as weak," Yadav said.
He recalled the words of socialist leader and freedom fighter Ram Manohar Lohia, who advocated that voting rights should maintain power with the downtrodden.
Yadav added, "Lalu and Lohia have always been saying that 'the rule of votes means the rule of small'. Our Constitution, Babasaheb Ambedkar, has given us all this right and given us the power of vote. Whether it is someone poor or rich or powerful, everyone has the right to give one vote, which is given by the Constitution."
Meanwhile, the Election Commission emphasised that issues regarding errors in electoral rolls, including past mistakes, must be raised during the "Claims and Objections" period.
According to the EC, sharing the electoral roll with all political parties and candidates allows any issues to be raised on time. The Commission also pointed out that political parties and their booth-level agents often fail to examine the electoral rolls at the appropriate time.
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