Fight against 'vote theft', SIR to defend democracy: Mallikarjun Kharge
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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said the party's fight against " vote theft " and Special Intensive Revision of Bihar electoral roll "is to save the Constitution and democracy ".In his Independence Day message, Kharge alleged BJP was resorting to "the extremes of immorality" to remain in power and therefore large-scale election irregularities were being committed.As happened in the past, Kharge and Rahul Gandhi again kept away from the Red Fort function even as they attended flag-hoisting ceremony at the Congress' headquarters here.Referring to the Congress agitation against SIR and alleged electoral irregularities, Kharge said; "This is not a fight to win elections but to save India's democracy and protect the Constitution. Now the ruling party is ready to go to any extent of immorality to remain in power"."Large-scale irregularities are coming to light in elections. In the name of Special Intensive Revision, votes of the opposition are being openly cut. Those who are alive have been declared dead. The impartiality of the Election Commission can be understood from the fact that it is not ready to tell whose votes are being cut and on what basis," he said.Kharge thanked the Supreme Court for asking the EC to make public the names deleted from voters roll through SIR."We are grateful to the Supreme Court, which listened to the voice of the people and asked the Election Commission to make the voter list public. The most surprising thing is that the ruling party has no objection to the votes of 65 lakh people being cut. This clearly shows who benefitted from this exercise," he said.Kharge recalled how B R Ambedkar had told the Constituent Assembly that "franchise is one of the most fundamental things in a democracy" and that no person eligible for voting should be excluded merely as a result of prejudice. He also accused the ruling establishment of capturing institutions and politicising the investigating agencies.
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