Rahul Gandhi (ANI photo)
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday doubled down on his “vote chori” charge, affirming that he would prove “beyond doubt in six months” that the ruling BJP is “stealing” the elections.During his Vote Adhikar Yatra at Muzaffarpur in poll-bound Bihar, the Lok Sabha leader of opposition alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and the Election Commission of India (ECI) are “stealing” the votes. Rahul Gandhi claimed that the entire model (of “stealing votes”) is named the Gujarat model, adding that Bihar will put an “end to the vote theft”.”In the coming days, we will prove to you beyond a doubt that Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and the Chief Election Commissioner are stealing votes… We will inform you within the next six months that they have developed a model of theft in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, which they have named the Gujarat model… The youth of Bihar will show PM Narendra Modi how ‘vote chori’ will be put to an end,” the Raebareli MP was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. Earlier, the Congress leader called the much-touted “Gujarat Model” a “model of vote-chori (poll theft).” “It (‘vote chori’) was happening in Gujarat before 2014. They brought it to national level in 2014. Gujarat model is not an economic model, it is a model of stealing votes,” he said at a rally in Muzaffarpur. PM Modi’s electoral victories, Gandhi alleged, were built on “cutting votes and adding (fake) voters,” with the help of Union home minister Amit Shah and ECI. He reiterated his allegation that the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, as well as the Lok Sabha polls, were “stolen” in the BJP’s favour with the ECI’s “complicity.” “We did not say anything because we had no proof. But we found proof in Maharashtra because they overdid it there. The ECI added around 1 crore more votes in Maharashtra after the Lok Sabha elections. All of them went to the BJP. We will show you with proof how Haryana, Maharashtra and the Lok Sabha elections were stolen,” he said. Rahul Gandhi, who is on a state-wide “Voter Adhikar Yatra” ahead of the Bihar assembly polls, was joined by his ally and Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, who echoed his charge against the poll panel. The 16-day march will culminate on September 1 with a mega rally at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan, expected to be attended by leaders of the Congress-led INDIA bloc.
