ONL Bureau : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday claimed that BJP leaders have become jittery as the Narendra Modi government at the Centre has been "caught stealing votes with the help of the Election Commission".
He was addressing a public rally in Siwan as part of the Congress's ongoing 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar.
"The Narendra Modi government has been caught stealing votes with the help of the Election Commission, which is why BJP leaders have started jumping up and down. This is just the beginning," he said.
"The BJP is shaken and its leaders are jittery. We will expose them in the future. No matter what Narendra Modi does... we will not allow 'vote chori' in Bihar," Gandhi said.
"The BJP has been winning elections by stealing your votes. Now, we will not allow them to do so. They added one crore fake voters in the electoral rolls of Maharashtra after last year's Lok Sabha polls... it's a proven fact," Gandhi claimed.
Voting is the right of Dalits, minorities, women but the Modi government steals votes to win polls, he said.
Only the names of Dalits, extremely backward classes, backward classes, poor and minorities had been removed in the draft electoral rolls in Bihar during the special intensive revision, while no name of any rich person had been deleted, he claimed.
Gandhi said that the right to vote has been guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
Holding a copy of the Constitution in his hand, he said, the BJP was attacking it by stripping people of their right to vote.
"We will not allow BJP to further steal votes in Bihar or any other parts of the country. Now, people have started calling BJP leaders 'vote chor' (vote thief)," he said.
Addressing the gathering, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said, "People of Bihar will teach them (NDA leaders) a lesson in the coming assembly polls. They have been completely exposed. I must say that PM Modi speaks lies... he is a factory of lies."
During the Gopalganj leg of 'Voter Adhikar Yatra', Gandhi visited RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's ancestral village Phulwaria in the district.
The Congress leader garlanded the statue of Lalu Prasad's mother Marachhiya Devi at Marachhiya Chowk in the village.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah joined Rahul Gandhi in the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Gopalganj district.
Siddaramaiah, Tejashwi Yadav and other representatives of the INDIA bloc participated in the yatra along with Rahul Gandhi, waving at an enthusiastic crowd from an open-roof SUV.
Later, in a post on X, Siddaramaiah wrote, "Joined the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Gopalganj under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi Jee. The huge participation of people shows the growing strength of this movement for democracy and justice. The massive gathering reflected the people's strong resolve to protect democracy and their constitutional rights."
CPI leader Annie Raja also joined Rahul Gandhi in the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Bettiah, the district headquarters of West Champaran district.
"The right to vote is most important. It empowers us to choose our government. Elections reflect true equality in our country, where every vote carries the same value, whether cast by the rich or the poor. We firmly stand against any attempt to take away this right," she told PTI Videos.
Raja was Gandhi's opponent in the Wayanad seat in Kerala in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress leader had defeated her by a margin of 3.64 lakh votes. However, he later gave up the Wayanad seat for his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and retained the Raebareli seat in Uttar Pradesh, which he had also won.
(Syndicated News Feed)