New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) A mammoth crowd turned Sasaram into a sea of Tricolour on Sunday as Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi launched the 16-day, 1,300-km-long ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ across Bihar.

Senior INDIA bloc leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, joined Rahul Gandhi at the historic launch that drew thousands of supporters lining the roads.

Addressing the rally, Kharge called upon the people of Bihar to resist “vote theft” allegedly being carried out by the BJP.

“This yatra is not just for winning an election, it is to save the Constitution, democracy and people’s right to vote,” he said. Kharge accused the Election Commission of deleting 65 lakh voters from the rolls, largely from Dalit, Adivasi, minority, and other backward communities.

Rahul Gandhi, in a sharp attack on the BJP and RSS, said the fight was to protect the Constitution from being “wiped out” through electoral manipulation. “Elections are being stolen in Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha across the country,” he said, citing Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision of voter lists as “a conspiracy to disenfranchise millions ahead of state polls.”

He also pointed to Maharashtra, where, he claimed, the INDIA bloc swept the Lok Sabha elections but lost ground in the Assembly polls due to the sudden addition of one crore new voters, “all favouring the BJP.” Gandhi further cited the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in Bengaluru Central, where Congress alleged over one lakh fake votes had swung the outcome in the BJP’s favour.

Reiterating his party’s commitment to social justice, Gandhi said the Congress would conduct a nationwide caste census and push to remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations.

He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making false promises on the issue and warned that the government would not act sincerely.

The event was attended by INDIA bloc leaders including K.C. Venugopal, Bhupesh Baghel, Krishna Allavaru, Rajesh Ram, Shakeel Ahmad, Dipankar Bhattacharya, and Akhilesh Pratap Singh.

–IANS

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