Responding to questions on Monday on the Congress’ ‘vote chor, gaddi chhod’ campaign and allegations of electoral irregularities, Abdullah said, “The INDIA bloc has got nothing to do with it. Every political party is at liberty to set its own agenda. The Congress has made ‘vote chori’ and SIR as its main issues. Who are we to tell them otherwise?”

During the debate, Rahul Gandhi reiterated his charge that the BJP was “directing and using” the Election Commission to undermine India’s democratic institutions. He also questioned the decision to remove the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel responsible for appointing Election Commissioners.

The Congress leader demanded several reforms, including the provision of a machine-readable voter list to all political parties at least one month before elections, scrapping the law that permits the destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days, granting greater access to EVMs, and amending laws that, according to him, allow Election Commissioners “to get away with whatever they want to do.”

Responding sharply, Union Home Minister Amit Shah countered Rahul Gandhi’s claims, pointing out that EVMs were introduced in India during the tenure of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He said it was ironic that the Congress party now opposes a system it had itself implemented.

Shah further noted that the Congress had won the first election conducted using EVMs. “This was in 2004, when Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister. Ten years later, when we won in 2014, they began raising doubts,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly alleged EVM manipulation and vote theft in recent years. Echoing these claims, senior Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda recently endorsed Gandhi’s position, alleging that the Election Commission was no longer neutral.

Addressing the Congress party’s ‘vote chor, gaddi chhod’ rally at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital, Hooda claimed that recent elections, including those in Maharashtra, Haryana and Karnataka, had exposed serious flaws in the electoral process. “The Constitution gave every citizen the right to vote after Independence. Today, that very right is being manipulated,” Hooda alleged, accusing authorities of large-scale interference in the voting process.

–IANS

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