Snatching 'right to vote' tarnishes India’s democracy: Kharge on Voter's Day

New Delhi: As the country celebrated 'National Voters' Day, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said "snatching" the 'right to vote' through "vote chori" (vote theft) and "unplanned" Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls "tarnishes" India's "long-cherished democracy".

He said the 'National Voters' Day, which commemorates the establishment of the EC on the same day in 1950, is a powerful reminder that a nation’s future belongs to its people, and that our collective voice can shape our shared destiny.

Claiming that institutions like the EC have faced "sustained pressure" in recent times, he said it is people's solemn responsibility to protect its independence and integrity, so that democracy does not merely survive, but truly thrives.

“The people of India deserve a free, fair and fearless elections, where clean electoral rolls and level-playing field is the primary requisite. Snatching the 'right to vote' through 'vote chori' and unplanned SIR tarnishes India’s long-cherished democracy,” Kharge posted on 'X'.

The Congress has been accusing the EC of being hand in glove with the ruling BJP and manipulating elections. It had accused the poll body of preparing defective electoral rolls in states to help the BJP.

On Saturday, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi claimed that wherever there is the SIR, there is vote theft and that “the most serious truth” is that the EC is no longer the guardian of democracy, but has become the “main accomplice in this vote theft conspiracy”.

"What is being done in Gujarat in the name of SIR is not any kind of administrative process - it is premeditated, organized, and strategic vote theft," he said referring to the "most shocking and dangerous thing" in which thousands of objections have been filed under the same name.

"Votes have been selectively cut from specific communities and Congress-supporting booths. Wherever the BJP faces defeat, voters themselves are made to disappear from the system," he claimed.

He said it is the same pattern that was seen in Karnataka's Aaland and Maharashtra's Rajura and now the "same blueprint" is being implemented in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and every state where SIR has been imposed.