Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar: Rahul Gandhi alleges 'partnership' between EC and BJP to steal votes

Nawada: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that a "partnership" has been going on between the Election Commission and the BJP to "steal votes" and asserted that the Mahagathbandhan will not allow even one vote to be stolen in Bihar.

Addressing a gathering at Bhagat Singh Chowk here on the third day of his Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, Gandhi said the right to vote has been given to the people by the Constitution and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the Election Commissioners are "snatching" it away from them.

"This is your right that has given to you by the Constitution that you have fought for and Modi, Shah and election commissioners are snatching away from you. (RJD's) Tejashwi (Yadav), me and the other (Mahagathbandhan) leaders standing here want to tell them that we will not let you steal even one vote in (Bihar)," Gandhi said.

He alleged that the EC-BJP have "stolen" the elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh.

In Maharashtra, about 1 crore voters were added through magic between the Lok Sabha and assembly polls, Gandhi said.

He said the Congress asked the EC to provide machine-readable voters list and CCTV footage but the poll body refused.

"Now in Bihar they are carrying out 'vote chori' in a new manner. They are doing this chori before your eyes but we will not let them do vote chori," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

Warning the people, he said, "First your voter card will go, then your ration cards will go and then your land would be handed over to Adani and Ambani," Gandhi alleged.

This country belongs to farmers, labourers, small traders and the youth, and not to a few billionaires like Adani and Ambani, he said.

Gandhi said all the wrong laws, GST, demonetisation are aimed at benefiting few billionaires.

"You give money and resources and the country cannot give you employment, this has to change and that is why we have started this Voter Adhikar Yatra," he said in his address to the people standing atop his vehicle flanked by RJD's Tejashwi Yadav and CPI(ML) Liberation's Dipankar Bhattacharya.

At the start of the address, Gandhi asked a person whose name had been cut from the voters list to address the people. The person said he had been a polling agent in the Lok Sabha polls but his name had been cut in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

"There are lakhs of such people in Bihar who voted but their names have been cut from the voters list," Gandhi said.

"There is a partnership going on between the BJP and the Election commission, they are together colluding to indulge in vote chori," he charged.

Asserting that "vote chori" is an attack on 'Bharat Mata', Gandhi on Monday had warned the chief election commissioner and the two election commissioners of stern action when the INDIA bloc forms government.

Intensifying his attack on the Election Commission, Gandhi had 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.

On Tuesday, the Yatra began from Wazirganj, Gaya, and entered Nawada later.

The yatra will conclude with a rally in Patna on September 1.

The yatra is being undertaken in a hybrid mode, on foot and by vehicle, as was Gandhi's Manipur to Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

It will also pass through Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Munger, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Purnea, Araria, Supaul, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, Chhapra and Ara.