'Vote chori': Rahul Gandhi's doing what Chandrababu did in 2019
What's the story
In a striking similarity, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has echoed the allegations made by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in 2019 about voter deletions. Back then, Naidu had accused the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) of deleting around eight lakh TDP voters from electoral rolls. His party was in power at the time, and he blamed the opposition for these deletions.
Probe initiated
Naidu claimed 8 lakh votes deleted
Naidu had alleged that "Eight lakh TDP votes have been removed. They used Form-7 for the purpose. Looks like they may even remove my vote tomorrow." His government then formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the matter, filing 400 FIRs statewide. However, State Chief Electoral Officer Gopala Krishna Dwivedi stated that the poll panel had allowed the authorities to delete only 40,000 voters from 74 assembly constituencies, with only 10,000 being removed.
Campaign continuation
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi has been leading 'vote chori' campaign
Fast forward five years, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been leading a "vote chori" campaign, accusing the ECI of protecting the people who are allegedly deleting votes. In his latest attack, he claimed he has "100% proof" of vote deletion, which, he said, is being done in a centralized manner. "This is being done not using individuals but...software. Look at the serial numbers...A software is picking up the first name in the booth and using it to delete votes."
Gandhi
Large-scale irregularities in the Mahadevapura assembly
Gandhi cited an example from Karnataka's Aland constituency, where he said 6,018 votes were attempted to be deleted but were caught by chance. "They are much higher than 6,018, but somebody got caught deleting those 6,018 votes," he claimed. He also alleged fraudulent addition of voters in Maharashtra's Rajura constituency. In an earlier press conference on August 7, he claimed the Congress had discovered large-scale irregularities in Bengaluru's Mahadevapura assembly segment's electoral rolls.
Recent developments
Recently, Naidu's TDP raised concerns over SIR exercise in Bihar
While Naidu's TDP is now an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), he had recently raised concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar. The party asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to clarify that this exercise is not related to citizenship verification and should not be conducted before major elections. "The SIR process should be conducted with sufficient lead time, ideally not within six months of any major election," it wrote to ECI.