Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls is a “new weapon” of “vote chori” and vowed to protect the ‘one person, one vote’ principle.He made the remarks in a post on his WhatsApp channel while talking about his meeting with a group of people who had cast their vote in the previous Lok Sabha election but their name had been deleted in the SIR exercise in Bihar.
Gandhi met the group at the launch of his Vote Adhikar Yatra in Sasaram on Sunday.
In his post in Hindi along with a picture of the meeting, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said, “SIR is a new weapon of vote theft. Coincidentally, these people standing with me in this picture are ‘living’ proof of this theft.”
“All of them had cast their vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections – but by the time Bihar assembly elections came, their identity, their existence was erased from the democracy of India,” he said.
“Do you know who they are? Raj Mohan Singh (70): Farmer and retired soldier; Umravati Devi (35): Dalit and labourer; Dhanjay Kumar Bind (30): Backward class and labourer; Sita Devi (45): Woman and former MNREGA labourer; Raju Devi (55): Backward class and labourer; Mohmuddin Ansari (52): Minority and labourer,” he said.
The “collusion” of BJP and Election Commission is punishing them for being ‘Bahujan’ and poor – even our soldiers were not spared, Gandhi said.
Neither will they have a vote, nor identity or rights, he added.