New Delhi, Nov 26 (UNI) Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday stressed for re-introduction of ballot paper system for elections and called for a Bharat Jodo Yatra like campaign led by Rahul Gandhi for the same.
Addressing the Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyan function at the Talkatora Stadium here, Kharge alleged that the votes being cast by the SCs, STs, OBCs and the oppressed were going waste in the current system of voting through EVMs.
He asked the BJP leaders to keep the EVMs in their godowns. “There are many godowns in Ahmedabad, keep the machines there,” he added.
“We don’t want EVMs. Leave them. We will vote on the ballot papers”, he said, while challenging the BJP and Modi without taking their names, “give us the paper ballot and you will realise where you stand and what is your condition”.
Kharge suggested that the Congress should launch a campaign for this purpose and appealed to other political parties also to join this campaign.
The Congress President accused Adani of distributing his money in Maharashtra to help the BJP. He observed that Modi had given him so much wealth that he cannot digest all of it and he was distributing it in elections for the BJP.
Accusing the BJP of destroying the constitution and the constitutional values, he said, “they have no constitutional values, no institutional integrity, no federal character and whatever is in the constitution they are trying to destroy one by one”.
Kharge said, while the constitution guaranteed freedom of speech and freedom of religion, during the last eleven years of the BJP rule, there was neither freedom of speech nor freedom of religion and only “kaato aur baato” (divide and kill).
He asserted, the Congress will never let that happen. “Nobody will be divided or die in the name of religion. We will protect and defend the country together”, the Congress Chief assured.
