INDIA bloc will come out with united response on 'voter theft': Pawan Khera

Srinagar: The Congress on Sunday said it will hold discussions with INDIA bloc partners in the next few days to chalk out a united response to what it alleges are instances of manipulation of voter lists in several states.

Congress leader Pawan Khera said a people’s campaign has started against the alleged “vote theft” by the Election Commission and the ruling BJP, with many people investigating voter lists on their own.

Khera was non-committal when asked if the party would demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the issue.

“We are discussing this with our INDIA alliance partners also. In the next two or three days, we will have another discussion with them and we will come back with a joint strategy,” he added.

Asked if going to the court was an option, the Congress spokesperson said he would not be able to comment on it at this stage. “But we all have to take a united stand on how to proceed in future,” he said.

Gandhi on Thursday claimed a “huge criminal fraud” in polls through “collusion” between the BJP and the Election Commission, citing his party’s analysis of voter rolls in a constituency in Karnataka last year.

Khera questioned the Election Commission, which has sought an affidavit from Gandhi on the vote theft allegations, asking if the poll body believes its papers are not.

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“These papers belong to the Election Commission. The ECI does not trust its own papers? Let them give an affidavit first (about the papers),” he said.

“We also challenge the Election Commission. If it is proven right, will the CEC resign? Can he give it to us in writing?” he asked.

Gandhi, on his part, has said that he will not sign a declaration, asserting that he has already taken an oath to uphold the Constitution as a member of Parliament.

Asked why the poll body was at the centre of this campaign, Khera alleged that over the last 10 years, a lot of constitutional institutions have collapsed or are on the verge of collapsing.

“The Election Commission is at the forefront of institutions that should have upheld democracy, but it is collapsing,” he said.

Khera also hit back at the EC, which has asked Gandhi to apologise for what it claims are “fake” charges, and said, “You do the stealing and we have to apologise? Now you will be investigated.

“We have taken papers from you and put them before you and you have been caught in the act. They should respond. Why do they want to destroy footage within 45 days? Why are they not giving us the electronic voter list? What are they trying to hide? What is their fear?” he asked.

Khera asserted that there was nothing for his party to prove.

“The burden of proof is on them. Rahul Gandhi is the Leader of the Opposition, who has become an MP after taking the oath of the Constitution. Does the EC not have faith in the Constitution?” he added.

Khera said the party on Sunday launched a missed call number on its website.

“People are very keen on investigating themselves and in the last three to four days, you have seen independent experts, not even experts, citizens of India are bringing out details which even we did not have. So this is becoming a people’s campaign and when it becomes a people’s campaign, they will decide how to go about it in the future,” he said.

Khera said the government is very scared and nervous. “They better be nervous”.

After Gandhi made his “vote chori” allegations in a press conference on Thursday, top INDIA bloc leaders held a dinner meeting at his residence and vowed to fight the electoral rolls’ revision in Bihar as well as what they described as the “vote chori model” of the BJP-Election Commission.

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