BJP’s ‘vote chori’ direct attack on democracy, fumes Congress
The Congress on Thursday said “vote theft” was a direct attack on democracy and the rights of the poor, and the people will teach the BJP a stern lesson as they have understood its intentions.The party made the fresh attack in the light of the latest revelation by a Karnataka SIT zeroing in on at least six suspects allegedly involved in vote theft in the state’s Aland Assembly segment.
In a post on X, the Congress claimed that with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) finding “evidence” of Rs 80 being paid to delete each voter from the Aland seat, a major scam had come to light.
“The Karnataka SIT investigation revealed that in this ‘vote theft’ scam, fake applications were filed to delete the names of 6,018 voters, for which a total payment of 4.8 lakh rupees was made. These fake applications for voter deletion were being sent from a data operating centre in Kalaburagi,” the party alleged.
An SIT was formed to look into the matter after Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, in a press conference, claimed that votes had been stolen in Aland. “In this case, SIT conducted raids at the premises of BJP leader Subhash Guttedar, his sons, and their chartered accountant, recovering 7 laptops and several mobile phones.
“Just imagine...This exposé of ‘vote theft’ pertains to just one assembly seat. The revelation of where all the BJP has systematically carried out such ‘vote theft’ is yet to come out. This ‘vote theft’ by BJP is a direct attack on democracy -- where the rights of the poor and marginalised are being snatched away, and their voices are being suppressed,” the party claimed. “But no more...
The truth about the BJP’s ‘vote theft’ and electoral fraud has now come before the entire country. The public has understood their intentions and will teach them a stern lesson,” it said in its post in Hindi, using its campaign slogan ‘Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod’ (Vote Thieves, Vacate the Throne!).
In another post, the party alleged, “The cost of cutting a vote is 80 rupees. This is the game of the BJP and the Election Commission.”
