Congress launches nationwide 'Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod' campaign from Thu

New Delhi: Upping the ante over Rahul Gandhi's poll rigging claims, the Congress on Tuesday announced a roadmap to take its "vote chori" allegations to the people, which include taking out 'Loktantra bachao mashaal marches' on Independence Day eve.

The opposition party also claimed that as more "evidence" of "vote chori" was coming to the fore, it seemed that it was not mere theft but "dacoity".

The assertion was made after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge held a meeting with party general secretaries, in-charges and heads of its frontal organisations.

The meeting was attended by the likes of former party chief Rahul Gandhi and general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, among others.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Congress leader and AICC in-charge of National Students' Union of India (NSUI) Kanhaiya Kumar said a "big issue" of "vote chori" has come to the fore.

"Rahul Gandhi ji has put forward the truth with evidence on how democracy is being throttled," Kumar said.

"It was through the Constitution that the principle of one man, one vote was introduced. But now democracy and the Constitution are being attacked. It is a do-or-die issue for the Congress. It was the Congress that brought in one person, one vote and will fight tooth and nail to protect it. This is a fight for people's rights," he said.

"As Kharge ji has pointed out that as evidence keeps coming, this vote chori (theft) seems more like dacoity," Kumar said.

He said that going forward, the Congress will take this to the people with three important programmes.

On August 14, the eve of Independence Day, there will be a 'Loktantra bachao mashaal march' at all district headquarters, Kumar said, adding that between August 22 and September 7, the Congress will hold "vote chor, gaddi chhorh (vote thieves, relinquish power)" rallies.

"Between September 15 and October 15, a signature campaign will be run to save the right to vote and ensure people's participation," Kumar said while asserting that the whole INDIA bloc is together on this.

The Congress has also launched a web portal for people to register and demand accountability from the poll panel against what it called "vote chori", and express support for the demand for digital voter rolls.

Gandhi urged people to support this demand by registering on votechori.in/ecdemand. "This is a fight to protect democracy," he added.

The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha also hit out at the Election Commission, accusing it of suppressing questions being raised.

Anyone can click on the portal link and download "vote chori proof, demand EC accountability and report vote chori".

It also carries Gandhi's video in which he reiterated his explosive claims of a "huge criminal fraud" in the polls through "collusion" between the BJP and the EC.

He had cited an analysis in a constituency in Karnataka to support his claim, and said it was "a crime against the Constitution".

Several Congress leaders and supporters had registered on the portal and shared the certificates on social media.

Gandhi, last Thursday, cited data from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to claim over 1 lakh votes were "stolen" through five types of manipulation in an assembly segment in Karnataka.

The opposition has been protesting in both Houses of Parliament against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the EC's exercise is aimed at "disenfranchising voters" in Bihar ahead of the assembly elections due later this year.

They have been demanding a discussion on the issue in both Houses.

There has been a logjam in Parliament over the SIR in Bihar. Barring discussions on Operation Sindoor in the two Houses, Parliament has seen little business ever since the Monsoon session began on July 21 due to repeated adjournments, mostly over the SIR issue.

On Monday, opposition MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, Kharge and Pawar, took out a protest march from the Parliament House to the Election Commission office against the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleged "vote chori", but were stopped midway by the police and briefly detained amid high drama.

As opposition MPs, wearing white caps with a red cross on the words 'SIR' and "vote chori", started walking from Parliament's Makar Dwar to the EC office, carrying placards and banners, they were stopped by the police by putting up barricades outside the PTI Building.

Many of the MPs sat on the road and raised slogans while some women parliamentarians climbed the barricades. They were later whisked away by police in buses lined up along the road and taken to the Parliament Street Police Station.

All the MPs were later released.