Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday took a veiled dig at the government and highlighted the party’s recent campaign against alleged vote theft, dubbing it a fight to save democracy.
Kharge, who hoisted the national flag at the party’s new headquarters, Indira Bhawan, for the first time here, stood soaked in rain alongside Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and several senior leaders.
He took a jibe at the Election Commission for removing the names of 65 lakh voters in Bihar under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls exercise.
Targeting the BJP, Kharge said:
“The BJP did not have any objection to names of 65 lakh people being omitted from the electoral rolls, and this shows who benefitted from the SIR exercise.”
“This is not a fight to win elections but to save India’s democracy and protect the Constitution,” Kharge added.
However, the Congress President’s speech at the party headquarters was curtailed as heavy rains battered the national capital. Kharge then shared his entire speech on social media through a video statement.
The Congress leader said that the foundation of Indian democracy is free and fair elections. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on June 15, 1948, had said, ‘Franchise is a most fundamental thing in a democracy. No person who is entitled to be brought into the electoral rolls….should be excluded merely as a result of prejudice….’
Taking a swipe at the BJP, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said: “But to stay in power, the ruling party can go to any extent of immorality.”
He also alleged that several massive irregularities in elections are coming to the fore.
The Congress leader further alleged that through the SIR, votes of the Opposition are being removed, and those who are alive have been declared dead.
Pointing out issues with the functioning of the Election Commission, he said, “The fairness of the Election Commission can be understood from the fact that it is not willing to share the reasons why names of voters were deleted from electoral rolls.”
Kharge thanked the Supreme Court, saying it heard the voices of the people and asked the poll panel to share the names of people omitted from voter rolls.
Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s August 7 press conference, Kharge said that the facts he presented have proved how irregularities were committed to win in the Lok Sabha.
Now similar evidences of irregularities are emerging—where Congress led in certain assembly segments, but BJP unexpectedly took the lead and emerged victorious, he claimed.
Once again talking about last year’s Maharashtra assembly polls, Kharge said, “We had similar apprehensions during the Maharashtra assembly polls. The party is analysing and probing the facts, and it will share them with the people at the appropriate time.”
He said this is not just a challenge for Congress but for the world’s largest democracy. He also appealed to party leaders to analyze and cross-check voter rolls booth by booth to find out how many names were omitted, who were declared dead, or shifted to other booths in possible conspiracies.
He asked party leaders to check if outsiders were added as voters or if a person’s voter ID appears at multiple booths.
He noted a new tactic where a new voter list is sent on the day of polling in an additional list, leaving candidates very little time to analyse it.
“This is a conspiracy by our opponents. But soon we will expose it,” he said, adding that the Congress party has created a website to share details of such malpractices.
He further stated that people nationwide are contributing information, and the party is compiling it.
Kharge also stressed again, “This is not a fight to win elections, but a fight to save democracy. This is a fight to save the Constitution.”
The Congress asserted that they need to uphold the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Maulana Azad, and others, and fight honestly as they did during independence.
Kharge added that Rahul Gandhi will embark on the Voter Adhikar Yatra from August 17 to champion this cause. “You all have to make it a huge success,” he appealed.
