Kharge alleges 'fraud' in elections, pitches for return to paper ballots

The Congress chief said the party was not going to back down, saying the thief who steals will be caught one day or the other.

Ahmedabad: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday claimed that there is "fraud" in elections, as the Narendra Modi government is making the Parliament and Election Commission (EC) its extension, even as he pitched for a return to paper ballot citing the practice in some developed countries.

In his presidential address at the AICC Session on the Sabarmati river banks, he also referred to selling of PSUs and said the government and Modi "will sell off the whole country and go" if the trend continues.

He also alleged that the ruling BJP government is inciting communalism by raising centuries-old issues to divide people and promote hatred among them, instead of preparing for future challenges. "Democracy is being finished slowly, slowly, slowly," he claimed.

"Today, efforts are being made to make the Election Commission and the Parliament. There is fraud in elections. With the advancement of electronic technology, developed countries of the world have abandoned EVMs and moved towards ballot papers. But our EC is not ready to take cognizance of this problem. We saw in the Maharashtra elections that fake voter lists are being made," he alleged.

He also said Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi raised the issue related to Maharashtra elections in Lok Sabha and before the media but it did not have any impact on the government.

Claiming that the number of voters increased by lakhs between Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra, "what kind of Election Commission is this, what kind of democracy is this? They won the elections by making everything fake. This is fraud and an attack on democracy. The kind of fraud that was committed in the Maharashtra assembly elections has never happened in the country before. This was done only to harass and destroy democracy."

Kharge said the Congress is not going to back down, saying the thief who steals will be caught one day or the other.

Insisting that the Congress is going to take the message of determination, struggle and dedication to walk on the path of justice from the Session, he said in the second battle for independence, the enemies are injustice, inequality, discrimination, poverty and communalism.

"The only difference is that back then foreigners used to promote injustice, poverty and inequality, now our own government is doing it. Then foreigners used to take advantage of communalism, today our own government is taking advantage of it. We will win this battle too," he said.

Alleging that the government ran Parliament's Budget session according to its "whims and fancies", he said Speaker Om Birla took Leader of Opposition Rahul's name but did not let him speak. "This is shameful in a democracy. If you do not allow LoP to speak how will you let people to raise their voice," he said.

Without directly mentioning the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, he alleged government conducted debate till late night for its agenda of communal polarisation. He also said the debate on Manipur took place at 4 AM as it appeared the government wanted to hide something.