Lagatar24 Desk
Bhubaneswar: Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission of India (EC), accusing it of acting as an “arm of the BJP” and plotting a new conspiracy of “chunav chori” (election theft) in Bihar. His remarks come amid ongoing controversy over the EC’s decision to revise the electoral rolls ahead of the state’s Assembly election.
Rahul Links Bihar Exercise to Maharashtra Allegations
Addressing the “Samvidhan Bachao Samavesh” in Bhubaneswar on Friday, Gandhi claimed the EC is replicating in Bihar what he described as electoral manipulation in Maharashtra. “BJP is attacking the constitution. Yesterday I was in Bihar. Just like ‘chunav chori’ was done in Maharashtra, similar attempts are being made in Bihar. EC has hatched a new conspiracy for ‘chunav chori’. EC is working as a BJP wing; it is not doing its own job,” Gandhi alleged.
He referred to the Maharashtra Assembly elections, where the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi suffered a significant defeat last year. Gandhi claimed over one crore new voters were mysteriously added to the rolls between the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in Maharashtra. “Nobody knows who these voters were and where they came from. We told the EC several times to provide us with the voter list and videography. But the EC has not. They are going to do the same ‘chori’ in Bihar as was done in Maharashtra,” he said.
Congress Vows to Resist Alleged Electoral Manipulation
Gandhi declared that the Congress, along with its INDIA alliance partners, would not allow what he termed “the theft of Bihar elections.” “I went to Bihar yesterday and, with INDIA alliance leaders, I said that we will not let EC and BJP do a ‘chori’ of Bihar elections,” he asserted.
Rahul Gandhi’s comments intensify the political debate around the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, an exercise already facing legal and political challenges over fears of voter disenfranchisement and potential misuse for electoral advantage.
