Rahul criticises EC over 'One Man, One Vote,' vows to protect Constitution

Gandhi further accused the Election Commission of neglecting its duty, asserting that the Congress party is committed to protecting the Constitution and will continue to do

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the Election Commission of not performing its duty of enforcing the 'one man, one vote' principle and said "abhi picture baki hai", alluding to the claims of irregularities in the voters' list.

 

Gandhi asserted that his party was engaged in protecting the Constitution and would continue to do so.

 

"There is not just one seat (where there is 'vote chori') but there are a number of seats. This is being done at a national level and systematically. The EC knows it and we know it too," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha told reporters in the Parliament House complex.

 

"Earlier, evidence was not there but now the evidence is there. We protect the Constitution. 'One man, one vote' is the foundation of the Constitution," Gandhi said.

 

It is the duty of the EC to enforce 'one man, one vote' and they have not done their duty, Gandhi said. 

 

"So we are protecting the Constitution and will continue to do so. We will not stop," he said.

 

Asked about Minta Devi, a 124-year-old voter allegedly listed in the Election Commission's voter list from Bihar, Gandhi said, "There are unlimited cases like that. Abhi picture baki hai."

 

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also said there were several such cases in which addresses and names of relatives etc. are all fake.

 

Earlier in the day, several MPs of the INDIA bloc parties held a protest in the Parliament House complex on Tuesday against the Election Commission's voter roll revision in Bihar, with many of them wearing white T-shirts that had the name of the "124-year-old voter" allegedly found on the state's voters' list emblazoned on it. 

 

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, TMC's Derek O'Brien, DMK's TR Baalu, NCP(SP)'s Supriya Sule, as well as other opposition MPs from DMK and Left parties, gathered near Parliament's Makar Dwar. They held posters and raised slogans, demanding a rollback of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

 

Several MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi, were seen wearing white T-shirts with 'Minta Devi' and her photo emblazoned on it and '124 Not Out' written at the back.

 

Congress' Manickam Tagore alleged that the EC under Rajeev Kumar and Gyanesh Kumar has become a department of the BJP.

 

"Minta Devi is a first time voter and she is 124-years-old. The voters list carries her name as a first time voter. We are wanting a discussion on such issues. How EC has become a party to the BJP. The voter list is full of such fraud," he charged while participating in the protest.

 

There has been a logjam in Parliament over the SIR in Bihar. Barring discussions on Operation Sindoor in the two Houses, Parliament has seen little business ever since the Monsoon session began on July 21 due to repeated adjournments, mostly over the SIR issue.

 

On Monday, opposition MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, Kharge and Pawar, took out a protest march from the Parliament House to the Election Commission office against the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleged "vote chori", but were stopped midway by the police and briefly detained amid high drama.