People's response to 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar leaves PM shaken: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that the response to the party's ongoing Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar has left Prime Minister Narendra Modi "shaken".

Addressing Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan during Congress's Voter Adhikar Yatra in Motihari, he said a countrywide caste census will give 90 per cent of people their rightful dues.

I am accusing the PM of vote chori daily, but why is he maintaining a stoic silence? Because he has been caught; he is exposed now. People's response to the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar has left the PM shaken, Gandhi asserted.

The Election Commission added 10 million new voters in Maharashtra after the Lok Sabha polls last year, he said.

When we asked for the voter list, the EC refused because the EC did it on the directions of the PM and the BJP, the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha alleged.

The BJP and the EC repeated the same process in Karnataka, the former Congress president said.

Even small children are calling BJP leaders vote chor, he claimed.

I simply want that if the constitution guarantees voting rights to all citizens, they must exercise that, Gandhi said.

Earlier in the day, addressing a public gathering in Motihari, Gandhi claimed that the 65 lakh people whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls of Bihar elonged to the poor and socially weaker sections of society.

People of Bihar would not allow the BJP and Election Commission to "rob" them of their right to vote, he said.

Bihar will go to the polls later this year.

"We have exposed the BJP and the EC, who were indulging in stealing votes... They did it in Maharashtra, Haryana and Karnataka. Now they want to repeat it in Bihar, which we will not allow them to do," he said.

Gandhi claimed he would provide more evidence of what he termed "vote chori" in the coming months.

Ahead of the rally, he visited the famed Janaki Temple in the area and offered prayers in Sitamarhi district.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu also joined the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Motihari. Besides Sukhu, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and other representatives of the INDIA bloc participated in the yatra, waving at an enthusiastic crowd from an open-roof SUV.

In a post on X, Sukhu said, "By participating in the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Motihari, we have given further momentum to this great campaign for democratic awareness. Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi jee, the entire Bihar has risen against vote theft and injustice, standing in favor of democracy.

I am witnessing the resonance of the youth, the call of the farmers, and the voice of the people have become one. Vote theft is not just a crime; it is a direct attack on democracy. It is the duty of every Indian to respond to this and protect the Constitution, he said.