NEW DELHI: The Congress will hold a ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ mega rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on November 1, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Monday. The protest comes over the alleged vote theft, demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and an immediate halt of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).Meanwhile, Union home minister Amit Shah is also set to attend a BJP foot march in Telangana a day later, on November 2, to counter what the party calls the Congress’s “false narrative” against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao announced Shah’s participation in the November 2 ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao’ (save democracy, remove anarchy) padayatra on Monday.The announcement comes amid a political row over the SIR exercise, with the Congress accusing the Election Commission of large-scale electoral irregularities.“They (Congress) are trying to create anarchy in the state and country. That’s why we are going to organise a padayatra with the theme ‘Loktantra Bachao – Arajakta Hatao’ (save democracy – remove anarchy). Amit Shah ji will attend the padayatra on 2nd (of November),” news agency PTI reported, quoting Rao.
Kharge announces mega rally at Ramleela Maidan
Kharge announced the November 1 rally in a video shared on X, alleging that the constitutional right to vote of millions of Indians was under threat.“The constitutional right of the Indian people to cast their votes is under threat. CEC Gyanesh Kumar is solely responsible for this; he has acted entirely at the behest of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister,” Kharge said.Kharge also criticised the government over inflation.In his video address, he said, “Greetings, friends. It is the festive season, yet you are currently grappling with back-breaking inflation. The government, however, is completely unconcerned—all they know how to do is steal votes. Large-scale vote theft has taken place, and it continues even now.”Announcing the rally, he said, “In this regard, a ‘Save the Vote, Save the Nation’ (Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao) mega-rally will be held on November 1st at the historic Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi.”“I appeal to you to participate actively in this rally to protect our Constitution and democracy, and to help make this campaign a success. Long live the Constitution! Jai Hind!” he added.
BJP challenges Congress over SIR claims
Rao accused the Congress of spreading misinformation about the electoral roll revision and challenged Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy to identify voters whose names had been wrongly deleted.Observing that Congress was spreading lies over the SIR exercise, Rao said he was ready to visit the chief minister’s native village, Kondareddypalle, to check how many voters’ names had been removed from the rolls.He said genuine voters whose names were deleted had the option of getting them included again. Rao also asked Congress ministers in Telangana to identify at least 10 voters whose names had been deleted and explain the reasons for their removal.Responding to allegations that 13 crore voters had been removed during the SIR exercise, Rao claimed that they fell into the categories of ‘Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate’ (ASDD).Of these, he claimed, 2.8 crore were dead, three crore were absent or untraceable when booth-level officers visited them, 6.3 crore had permanently shifted and nearly one crore names were registered at multiple locations. He cited the example of a man in Hyderabad who had admitted to having voter registrations at three places.
Rao targets Kharge, Congress over rally
Rao also criticised Kharge over his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that Congress was unable to accept that a ‘chaiwala’ had become the country’s Prime Minister. He said the party was desperate to return to power after losing elections since 2014.The Telangana BJP president asked party workers to burn Congress effigies at district headquarters on Monday in protest against Kharge’s remarks.He also took exception to Congress leaders from Telangana travelling to Delhi for the November 1 rally, citing water shortages in the state. Rao claimed that more than 300 of Telangana’s over 600 mandals were facing drought-like conditions due to a rainfall deficit.
Pointing to the impact of El Nino on water availability in Hyderabad, he said around 8,000 water tankers were being booked daily in the city. He urged Revanth Reddy to focus on addressing the water crisis instead.On the chief minister’s recent pitch for Rahul Gandhi to become Prime Minister, Rao said the BJP’s graph had risen since Gandhi began occupying leadership positions in the Congress.Taking a swipe at the Congress leader, Rao said, “you cannot market a failed product”.