Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during Bihar rally
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday called the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision in the poll-bound Bihar a “conspiracy to steal” in the upcoming assembly elections.The Lok Sabha leader of the opposition, during a rally in Bihar’s Sasaram, claimed that “Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections are being stolen in the entire country”.”I am telling you from this stage that Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections are being stolen in the entire country. Their latest conspiracy is to conduct SIR in Bihar and steal the Bihar elections as well. All of us have come to this stage to tell you that we will not let them steal this election,” Rahul Gandhi said at Congress’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ event.Highlighting his August 7 New Delhi press conference, where he made “vote chori” charge, Rahul Gandhi said: “The entire country knows what the election commission is doing. Earlier, the country did not know how votes were being stolen. But we made it clear in the press conference how votes are being stolen.”Further stepping up his attack on the BJP on the caste census issue, the Congress scion said : “I know that PM Modi is not going to get a true caste census conducted… But the INDIA bloc will ensure a true caste census in the country.”He also thanked the RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav for attending the event despite his health. “Thank you, Lalu ji, from the bottom of my heart, for coming here even though the doctor had advised you not to,” he told the former Bihar chief minister.With Bihar gearing up for assembly polls, Rahul Gandhi launched the ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ from Sasaram in Rohtas district on Sunday to highlight the alleged assault on people’s voting rights through the special intensive revision (SIR) of the state’s electoral rolls and to make the battle against “vote theft” a mass movement. Rahul will be joined in the yatra, spread over 16 days, by members of INDIA bloc parties that are part of the “mahagathbandhan” in Bihar. The yatra will culminate with a show of strength at a rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on September 1.
