New Delhi, Oct 5 (UNI) The Congress party today leveled serious allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission, accusing them of orchestrating a large-scale “vote chori” campaign targeting “women” voters in Bihar ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, All India Mahila Congress president, Alka Lamba alleged that while the Prime Minister is depositing money into women’s bank accounts in Bihar to allegedly influence voters, on the other hand, effort is underway to disenfranchise them.
Lamba claimed, “In collusion with the Election Commission, approximately 23 lakh women voters have been removed from the electoral rolls in the state”.
“Narendra Modi has specifically targeted women voters and taken away their democratic rights. But no matter how hard Modi and the Election Commission try, we will not allow ‘vote theft’ in Bihar,” Lamba alleged.
While alleging that lakhs of women have been removed from the voter list in Bihar, Lamba raised some questions.
“If these women were eligible to vote in the last Lok Sabha elections, were those votes considered fake? Was the government formed on the basis of these same votes now deemed invalid? Why are these names being deleted now, so close to the election?” Lamba asked.
She further alleged that under the guise of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a targeted and unconstitutional effort is being made to alter the voter rolls in important constituencies. The six districts where lakhs of women’s names have been deleted include Gopalganj, Saran, Begusarai, Samastipur, Bhojpur, and Purnia.
Lamba said, “In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the INDI Alliance had secured 25 seats in these regions, many of them closely contested.
In addition to the 23 lakh women, approximately 15 lakh male voters have also reportedly been removed from the voter list, she alleged.
Lamba said that to combat the alleged “vote chori”, the Congress has launched a nationwide signature campaign with the goal of collecting five crore signatures in protest.
