'Abhi picture baki hai': Rahul Gandhi doubles down on his 'vote chori' allegations
New Delhi (PTI): 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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
ALSO READ: Slain Australia beach shooting suspect native of Hyderabad: T'gana police
Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
