Rahul Gandhi leads I.N.D.I.A. bloc MPs' protest march to EC over 'vote chori'

Opposition MPs, led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, marched from Parliament to the Election Commission on Monday, protesting the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and alleging it was manipulated to benefit the BJP.

New Delhi: Wearing their distrust of the Election Commission on their sleeves, Opposition MPs led by Rahul Gandhi on Monday marched to the poll body headquarters, ‘Nirvachan Sadan’, from Parliament to protest against what they called ‘vote chori’ (vote theft) “facilitated to help” ruling BJP MPs.

With posters on vote theft in various languages, the MPs began their march — which comes close on the heels of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls — from the ‘Makar Dwar’ of Parliament around 11:30 am and took Parliament Street to reach the EC office. The march was stopped midway at Parliament Street near the PTI office.

Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned in the morning session owing to protests over the SIR. The march came days after Rahul Gandhi held a press conference accusing the EC of colluding with the BJP, presenting an analysis claiming that there were around one lakh voters in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat, from where the saffron party’s MP won.

The Opposition has been protesting against the SIR in Bihar and demanding an immediate discussion on the issue in Parliament. This has led to repeated disruptions due to the government’s reluctance to hold a debate, citing rules and precedent.

Wearing caps and chanting slogans against the EC, the MPs held banners reading “Cancel SIR, Stop Vote Chori”.