In a fiery campaign speech in Banka, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a direct attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing the ruling party of manipulating the electoral process and “stealing votes”. His remarks come amid allegations from the Opposition that some BJP leaders voted in the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections despite having cast their votes earlier in Delhi.
Gandhi directly named Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing them of “stealing” the recently concluded Haryana elections. He repeated his charge that the BJP was resorting to unfair means to retain power, while also blaming the Election Commission for “remaining silent”.
“Yesterday, it came to light that some BJP leaders voted in Bihar after voting in Delhi. Their workers are voting twice, four times, even ten times,” he told the crowd, “In Haryana, they deleted lakhs of votes of Congress supporters. They snatched away the votes of the poor, Dalits, extremely backward communities and minorities.” Gandhi Said.
The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha further warned that what had allegedly happened in Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra would be repeated in Bihar as well. “I guarantee the BJP will try in Bihar what they did in Haryana. Fake voter lists will be prepared and workers will attempt multiple voting. But they don’t understand the people of Bihar, they will guard polling booths and stop this loot of votes,” he said.
Bihar’s first phase logged a record 64.66% turnout across 121 seats; the next phase is on November 11 with counting on November 14.
