Rahul Gandhi to Election Commissioners: Day will come when INDIA bloc will form govt in Bihar as well as Centre
Addressing a gathering at Gaya Ji in Bihar on Monday, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha directly attacked Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
'Whatever I say, I do it. You have seen that I don't lie from the stage... these three election commissioners... I want to tell them that it is Modiji's government right now... Tejashwi (Yadav) ji said that you (election commissioners) have taken BJP membership and are working for them,' he said.
'But understand one thing, a day will come when there will be an INDIA bloc government in Bihar and Delhi; then we will take action against the three of you... You've stolen (vote) from the whole country,' Gandhi said as he wound up the second day of the Voter Adhikar Yatra with RJD's Tejashwi Yadav by his side..
'Election commissioners must hear out that if they don't do their job, there will be strict action against them,' Gandhi asserted.
In a blistering attack on the Election Commission, Gandhi also said that the poll body had brought in a 'new special package' for Bihar, which is named SIR (special intensive revision), a 'new form of vote theft,' just like the special package Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about.
He said the Election Commission was asking him to file an affidavit even after the poll panel's "vote theft" had been caught.
'I want to tell the EC that the whole country will ask you to give an affidavit. Give us some time, we will catch your theft in every assembly and Lok Sabha seat, and put it before the people,' he said.
"What did they do? Like PM (Narendra) Modi ji talks of a special package, the EC has brought a new special package for Bihar named SIR, which means a new form of vote theft," Gandhi added.
The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha made the remarks a day after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar gave him a seven-day ultimatum to submit a signed affidavit to back his claims; otherwise, the allegations would be considered baseless and invalid.
In his first press conference after Gandhi levelled allegations of 'vote chori' in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and several opposition leaders flagged issues about the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, CEC Kumar asked the Congress leader to either apologise or back his claims with a signed affidavit as required under electoral rules.
"Give an affidavit or apologise to the nation. There is no third option. If an affidavit is not given within seven days, this means that all allegations are baseless," said Kumar on Sunday, flanked by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
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