New Delhi, Aug 15 (UNI) Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge today raised serious concerns over alleged large-scale electoral irregularities, accusing the ruling party of undermining the foundations of Indian democracy to stay in power.
In a video message on the occasion of 79th Independence Day, Kharge cited the historic words of Dr BR Ambedkar, who, on June 15, 1949, said, “Franchise is a most fundamental thing in a democracy. No person who is entitled to be brought into the electoral rolls….should be excluded merely as a result of prejudice…”
Kharge alleged that under the guise of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, votes of opposition supporters are being deleted en masse. “People who are alive are being declared dead,” he said, accusing the Election Commission of “bias” for refusing to disclose whose names were being removed and on what grounds.
Welcoming the Supreme Court’s intervention, which directed the Election Commission to make the voter lists public, Kharge questioned the ruling party’s silence over the deletion of 65 lakh voters. “This clearly indicates who benefited from this exercise,” he said.
He also referred to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s data-backed claims showing how voter manipulation had altered election outcomes — including seats where the Congress had a lead in all Assembly segments but still lost due to a BJP lead in just one.
“This is not just our battle — this is the biggest challenge facing the world’s largest democracy,” he asserted.
Kharge called upon all Congress leaders and workers to thoroughly examine voter rolls in their respective booths. He urged them to identify names wrongly deleted, voters wrongly declared dead, names shifted to other booths, outsiders added, or voter IDs linked to multiple places.
He also claimed of a “new issue coming to light” — “additional voter lists” being issued just a day before polling, making it nearly impossible for candidates to review them in time.
Calling it a “conspiracy” by the ruling party, Kharge said, “The Congress party has created a website where you can provide information about all such irregularities”.
“This is not just a fight to win an election,” Kharge emphasised. “This is a fight to save Indian democracy and protect our Constitution.”
He invoked India’s great leaders — Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr B R Ambedkar, Maulana Azad, and Subhas Chandra Bose – saying their dreams cannot be shattered. “We must fight this battle with the same intensity with which we fought the battle for independence,” he said.
“To carry this fight forward,” Kharge added, “Rahul Gandhi will launch the ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ from Sasaram, Bihar, on the August 17. I urge everyone to join and make it a success.”
