Cong is 'quintessential vote chor', EC must probe how Rahul's 'close associate' carries 2 voter IDs: BJP

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) The BJP on Tuesday alleged that Congress leader Pawan Khera had two voter IDs and Rahul Gandhi was running a campaign against voter-roll revision in Bihar to "protect and hide" his party's theft of votes.

There was no immediate response from the Congress, Khera or Gandhi to the BJP's charge.

"Congress is the quintessential vote chor. That is why they want to tarnish everyone with the same brush," BJP leader Amit Malviya said on X, hitting out at Gandhi over his "vote theft" allegations and demanding that the Election Commission investigate how Khera "holds two active EPIC numbers, and whether he voted multiple times - a clear violation of electoral laws".

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari also claimed that Khera, the Congress' media department head and Gandhi's "close associate", had two voter IDs with different EPIC numbers registered in Jangpura and New Delhi assembly constituencies in the national capital.

"Rahul Gandhi and his close associates are chor (thieves) and making shor (noise)," he said.

"The nexus between Rahul Gandhi and Pawan Khera that has come to light today makes it clear that Rahul Gandhi hates the poor, deprived and oppressed of the country so much that to save the vote chori of his own party leaders and to hide their vote fraud, he is calling the citizens of Bihar 'farzi' and and 'chor' in Bihar," Bhandari charged.

"Rahul Gandhi and Congress are running a voter fraud racket in which different Congress leaders, who have multiple voter IDs, are given protection," he alleged and demanded a reply from Gandhi on the issue.

The BJP spokesperson demanded a probe by agencies concerned into Khera allegedly possessing two voter IDs, calling it a crime under the Representation of People Act, and also asked Gandhi if he would take any action against Khera and remove him from the Congress.

Slamming Gandhi for making "baseless" accusations of poll rigging against the ruling BJP and the Election Commission, Bhandari alleged that it is the Congress and the Gandhi family that have a history of rigging elections and vote-theft "Sonia Gandhi was not a citizen of India in 1980 but her name figured in the electoral roll. After we protested, her name was removed from the voter list in 1982. Rahul Gandhi is silent on this issue till date," he said and demanded an apology from Gandhi.

Bhandari termed Gandhi's campaign against alleged "vote theft" a "conspiracy against democracy" and cautioned people against believing in the Congress leader's "bundle of lies".

"Rahul Gandhi keeps lying because he is anti-democracy and a dangerous man. With his unrelenting lies, he wants to inject a sense of mistrust in the people's mind because people have given their mandate to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term", he charged.

The BJP spokesperson alleged that Gandhi is spearheading a campaign against Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and spreading "lies every day because he knows that the Congress will suffer a setback" in the upcoming Bihar polls if the voter list is cleaned.

"He knows that his two planks -- the support of 'ghuspaithiya' (intruders) and the Congress leaders' vote fraud of which Pawan Khera is an example -- will end with the completion of SIR, and his party would not be able to retain even the seats it has," Bhandari said.

The BJP's counter attack came a day after Rahul Gandhi said his party will soon come out with a "hydrogen bomb" of revelations about "vote chori" and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be able to show his face to the country afterwards. PTI PK RT RT