Congress leader KC Venugopal on Tuesday announced that the party will launch a nationwide “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod” campaign to protest alleged voter list manipulation, calling it a “blatant murder of Indian democracy.”
“The entire country is shouting – in one voice – Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod! At the meeting of AICC General Secretaries and In-Charges held today, presided over by Hon’ble Congress President Shri Mallikarjun and LOP Rahul Gandhi ji, it was resolved to launch a nationwide campaign against this blatant murder of Indian democracy,” the Congress MP wrote on X.
He said the meeting congratulated Rahul Gandhi for his “brave stand” in exposing alleged voter list manipulation and commended Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for “leading this fight from the front.”
The party will organise candlelight marches in every district at 8 pm on August 14, mega rallies in all state capitals and major cities between August 22 and September 7, and a signature campaign from September 15 to October 15, aimed at collecting five crore signatures as a referendum against what it calls the BJP’s “destruction of democracy.”
Venugopal said that the Congress will “defend the Constitution and safeguard the rights of every voter until our last breath,” calling the campaign a fight to protect the “soul of democracy.”
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha accused the central poll body of orchestrating a “loot” of votes and alleging that the ruling party is “leading the country into a dark cave” with no public legitimacy.
“We are using the word ‘chori’ in a very innocuous manner. But this is a loot. The Election Commission is involved in this loot. The two people at the top are involved in this. The entire Opposition has walked out. You are leading the country into a dark cave. Everyone has come to realise that this is an illegitimate government,” Jha told ANI after walking out of the Rajya Sabha.
Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav, who joined the protest march, alleged that by-elections on 10 Vidhan Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh witnessed booth capturing and vote theft, and questioned why the Election Commission had not taken action against officers allegedly acting on orders from the state government.
Maharashtra Congress in-charge Ramesh Chennithala claimed the “vote fraud” first came to light after the 2024 assembly elections and accused the Election Commission of ignoring data provided by the Opposition.
He said the MVA had won the maximum number of seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, but “vote chori” turned the mandate in the assembly polls in favour of the Mahayuti alliance.
Chennithala alleged that similar malpractice had taken place in Haryana and warned that it could happen in Bihar as well.
RJD MP Sanjay Yadav described the Election Commission as the “Election Chor of India” and alleged it had become an “anti-democratic wing” of the BJP.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s claims of vote theft, Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini accused the Congress leader of raising issues of “child-like intelligence.”
He said the Congress was in power for 55 years and had introduced electronic voting machines, and now, without any agenda, was blaming them.
The BJP leader claimed that in seven Assembly constituencies in Haryana, the BJP was behind by only 12,000 votes and accused the Congress of insulting democracy, the Constitution and the people’s mandate.
The Congress also accused the Modi government of refusing to allow a discussion on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, which it claimed would result in massive disenfranchisement of voters from weaker sections.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh pointed out that the revision was being undertaken less than five months before the assembly elections in the state.
He said Opposition parties had been demanding a discussion, but the government’s “obstinacy” had led to repeated adjournments of both Houses and walkouts by the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.