'Vote chori' system evolved by PM, EC will be deployed in Bihar too: Rahul

New Delhi | Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that a "systematic vote chori" method, evolved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission to "kill Indian democracy", will be deployed in the Bihar assembly polls as well.

Asserting that "vote chori" is an attack on the Constitution of BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha also stressed that this rigging must be stopped and it is the responsibility of all the people of the state, especially Gen Z, to come out and vote in large numbers.

A day before the polling for the first phase of the Bihar assembly polls, Gandhi made the remarks at a press conference, during which he put up a presentation to back his claim that the Haryana assembly polls last year were "stolen", and later in a video appeal to the Bihar voters.

After the presser, Gandhi issued the video appeal on X to the voters of Bihar and said, "Today you would have seen that I spoke about the truth of 'vote chori'. The BJP stole the elections of Haryana and Maharashtra, earlier they also stole elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and now they are making all attempts to steal the Bihar election."

"I talked about the story of some people from a village in Bihar (whose names were deleted from the voters list) but this has happened to lakhs of people in Bihar, votes have been deleted and the right to vote snatched from many people. 'Vote Chori' is an attack on the Constitution of BR Ambedkar ji and Mahatma Gandhi ji and we have to stop vote chori," Gandhi said in his over one-minute 14-second video.

It is the responsibility of Bihar voters, especially the Gen Z, that they should come out in large numbers to vote, he said.

"It is Mahagathbandhan's and my guarantee that we will form a government of the poor, farmers, labourers, of all castes, backwards, extremely backward, Dalits, Maha Dalits, minorities and poor general caste people. This government will include the voice of all the people of Bihar," he asserted.

In his remarks at the press conference, Gandhi said, "It is very clear who is responsible for the vote theft. (Pointing to a picture of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the two election commissioners, Gandhi said). These gentlemen colluded with the BJP to ensure that the Congress could not win the election in Haryana. The Election Commission is in a partnership with the prime minister and the home minister (Amit Shah) and they have destroyed the democratic foundations of this country."

"It is pretty clear to us that now this is a system, this is something that has now been industrialised and it can be used in any state and it is going to be used in Bihar. I am confident that after the Bihar elections, we will get the same records and we will show you that the same thing has happened in Bihar," the former Congress chief said.

Responding to Gandhi's vote manipulation charge, EC officials said it is "unfounded" as no appeals were filed against the electoral rolls in Haryana.

In his presser, Gandhi said political parties cannot work to foil "vote chori" designs as voters list comes at the last minute before the elections.

"This is the systematic method that has been evolved by the prime minister, the BJP and the Election Commission to kill the Constitution and to kill Indian democracy," he said.

Gandhi also called on stage some people from a Bihar village whose names have been deleted in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

One of the people whose name had been deleted from the electoral roll claimed that the names of 187 people in his village had been removed, the Congress leader said.

"This is the tip of the iceberg, we are absolutely certain, we will be able to do the same presentation for you once the data comes (for Bihar polls). We have no doubt...This is the state of Indian democracy," Gandhi said.

Responding to a question, he also said voters list integrity is not the responsibility of any political party, but that of the EC.

"What the Election Commission does is that it tries to put the onus on the political parties to solve the problem. We cannot solve the problem. If you give us the data we will solve the problem but we cannot solve the problem unless they give us the database," he said.

Later in a post on X on the people from Bihar he had called on stage, Gandhi said today, the world was introduced to some people from Dharmapur village in Jamui district, Bihar.

"What is happening to them is the most tragic and shameful tragedy for democracy. Despite submitting the forms and necessary documents, the names of many villagers were removed from the voter list without any notice or reason," he said.

Dilip Yadav, a disabled citizen who has difficulty commuting, was declared "not present" and removed along with his entire family, Gandhi said.

"Sunita Devi, Bunty Kumar, and Qayyum Ansari all share the same story: no hearing, no action. Many names were forcibly deleted, the names of many first-time young voters were not added - hundreds of people have been excluded from democracy because they belong to Dalit, backward, or minority communities. Because they are unlikely to vote for the BJP and its NDA allies," Gandhi alleged.

"This is true vote theft -erasing people's voice, rights, and presence," he said.

"And this has become the story not just of Dharmapur, but of every village in Bihar. But this fight will not stop. This struggle will continue to protect the greatest right given by the Constitution, the greatest weapon of democracy '“ one person, one vote," he said.

In September, Gandhi had accused CEC Kumar of protecting those who "destroyed democracy" and cited data from the Aland assembly constituency in Karnataka to claim that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections.

In August, Gandhi, citing data from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, had claimed that over one lakh votes were "stolen" through manipulation in Mahadevapura assembly segment in Karnataka.

The Bihar polls will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, and results will be announced on November 14.

The opposition INDIA bloc, which has the RJD, the Congress and the Left parties as the main constituents, has declared RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav its chief ministerial candidate.