Senior Congress leaders review preparations for rally against 'vote chori' in Rajasthan

Jaipur, Dec 11 (PTI) Senior Congress leaders on Thursday reviewed preparations in Rajasthan for the party's campaign against the BJP government's alleged "vote theft" scheduled to be held in Delhi on December 14.

The 'Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod' (vote thief, step down) rally will witness the participation of a huge number of supporters, the state unit claimed.

The review meeting at the Rajasthan Congress 'War Room' was attended by AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, AICC treasurer Ajay Maken, senior state leaders including PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra, former deputy CM Sachin Pilot, AICC in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and several AICC secretaries. District presidents joined via video call.

Dotasra gave a detailed presentation on the state unit's preparations, including the list of workers and vehicles from all 200 Assembly constituencies travelling to Delhi.

"More than 50,000 people from Rajasthan alone will participate. All district presidents have been instructed to ensure no worker faces any difficulty," he said.

He added that the party has appointed district- and assembly-level coordinators, conducted meetings at block and mandal levels, and finalised travel arrangements. All coordinators will remain stationed in their respective districts from December 12-14.

Venugopal praised the party's Rajasthan unit being "ahead of all states" in terms of mobilisation. He also asked workers to reach Ramlila Maidan ahead of time.

"There may be attempts by BJP governments to create hurdles. The issue of vote theft is not Congress's issue alone, it concerns the entire nation because it violates the constitutional right to vote freely," he said.

The Centre and the Election Commission were "silent" on evidence-backed allegations raised by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Venugopal added.

"The government removed the Chief Justice of India from the committee selecting the Chief Election Commissioner. Machine-readable voter lists are being denied to parties, and a law now prevents action against election commissioners. This shows the BJP is attacking democracy," he said.

Maken said the scale of preparations indicates Rajasthan will have an extraordinary presence at the rally. "The AICC had high expectations from Rajasthan, and today's review shows those expectations will be met," he said.

Senior leaders Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, Sachin Pilot, Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully and former PCC chief C P Joshi also addressed the meeting. PTI AG SKY SKY