New Delhi: Seeking to turn the table on the Opposition over its ‘vote chori’ campaign and criticism of the Special Intensive Revision, the BJP Wednesday came out with many alleged discrepancies in voter lists in the constituencies represented by Rahul Gandhi, Abhishek Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav among others.
It accused the Opposition of propagating ‘falsehoods’ in a bid to protect their ‘ghuspaithiye voters’.
The BJP’s counterattack comes days after Gandhi made a detailed presentation at a press conference here where he talked about alleged ‘vote theft’ with examples. He specifically mentioned that in the Mahadevpura seat of Karnataka, 80 voters purportedly resided at the same address.
BJP MP Anurag Thakur said both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi turned a blind eye to the same voters being registered in multiple booths in Rae Bareli, the Gandhi family pocket borough.
Thakur said Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar is aimed at protecting voting rights. Addressing a press conference here, he said the Congress knows it is losing the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, and therefore, it is engaging in mudslinging along with other Opposition parties.
“Rahulji and Soniaji never saw how 45 people have been registered in a house in Rae Bareli. Mohammad Kaif Khan’s name is registered at booth number 83, 151, 218 in the Rae Bareli Constituency,” Thakur alleged.
He further said 47 voter IDs are registered in House number 189 of booth number 131 in the Rae Bareli constituency. Mohammad Islam, Mohammad Qasim, Shakeel Ansari and Shabnam are among them, he said.
“Rahulji never saw this name, Sonia ji never saw this name. How did 47 IDs belong to the same address? Rahulji must have been asking for votes there for many years,” he said, accusing the Congress of indulging in appeasement politics.
“If there is a record of losing 90 elections under someone’s leadership, it is under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. Even within the party, questions are raised about Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. When he loses elections, he raises questions about EVMs or blames the voters,” Thakur said.
Taking on TMC leader and Lok Sabha MP Abhikshek Banerjee, Thakur said people from multiple religions are registered in house number 0011 of booth 103 of the Falta assembly segment of his Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat. “Khurshid Alam’s father’s name has changed across voter rolls for the Diamond Harbour assembly constituency in different years.”
“Rahul Gandhi does not see this. The name of the father of a person named Khurshid Alam is changed in Diamond Harbour. Abhishek Banerjee, what is happening in Diamond Harbour? The Congress’s only agenda is to save the ghuspaithiye vote bank. How did 54 votes come up in one house in Wayanad? How did 2.99 lakh fake voters come up in Rae Bareli? 52 voter IDs are in one house in Wandoor’s booth. Rahulji, did you go to Wayanad from Amethi for this?” he asked.
Thakur termed Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ claim a “blunder”. “Yesterday some Congress people were saying that Rahul Gandhi and the opposition leaders created a storm (bawandar)… It’s not a storm, it’s a blunder… I will say the same thing to Rahulji—dust was on your face, and you kept cleaning the mirror,” he added,
Coming down heavily on the TMC, Thakur claimed the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency saw more than 15 per cent increase in voter strength in four years, and was mostly won by the TMC.
He said an analysis of five Lok Sabha and one assembly constituencies—Wayanad (Priyanka Gandhi), Rae Bareli (Rahul Gandhi), Diamond Harbour (Abhishek Banerjee), Kannauj (Akhilesh Yadav), Mainpuri (Dimple Yadav) and Kolathur (assembly seat represented by M.K Stalin)—has exposed the ‘ghuspaithiya’ vote bank pattern.
“The Opposition is using ghuspaithiye vote bank for political survival while compromising on national security,” he claimed.
Thakur said that after being defeated in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi, Rahul Gandhi shifted to Kerala’s Wayanad to win elections with votes from a single community. “Both the LDF and UDF have fuelled Islamic radicalisation in Kerala, and now, as the BJP challenges them, they are resorting to allegations of voter fraud on BJP victory,” he said.
Citing an example from Kannauj, he said 16,163 duplicate voters have been found in Kannauj and 1,53,919 voters with fake addresses.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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