Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday made charges against Congress leader Pawan Khera, alleging that he owns two voter ID cards. The accusation came at a time when Rahul Gandhi escalated his attack against the government, accusing it of "vote chori" in the just-concluded "Voter Adhikar Yatra" in election-going Bihar.
In a post on social media, BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya called on the Election Commission to look into the matter and determine whether Khera had cast his vote more than once.
"It has now emerged that Pawan Khera, Congress spokesperson—who never misses a chance to flaunt his proximity to the Gandhis—holds two active EPIC numbers (in Jangpura and New Delhi Assembly constituencies, falling under East Delhi and New Delhi Lok Sabha seats respectively)," Malviya said.
"It is now for the Election Commission to investigate how Pawan Khera holds two active EPIC numbers, and whether he voted multiple times—a clear violation of electoral laws," he added.
Malviya also accused Khera of holding a "malicious" press conference in Bihar to mislead voters during the INDIA bloc's recently concluded "Voter Adhikar Yatra."
"As if the criminality of holding multiple votes isn’t enough, Pawan Khera is holding malicious press conferences in Bihar to mislead voters, create dissonance, and undermine India’s robust electoral process," he said.
It was this controversy that followed previous allegations made by the BJP that the name of Sonia Gandhi appeared on the 1980 voter list, purportedly three years before she became a citizen of India.
"Sonia Gandhi’s tryst with India’s voters’ list is riddled with glaring violations of electoral law. This perhaps explains Rahul Gandhi’s fondness for regularising ineligible and illegal voters, and his opposition to the SIR," Malviya had said.
The BJP’s fresh charges arrived just a day after Rahul Gandhi wrapped up the INDIA bloc’s 1,300-km-long "Voter Adhikar Yatra" in Bihar.
Speaking at the final rally in Patna on Monday, Rahul Gandhi had a go at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that the government would soon be revealed.
"I want to tell the BJP people. Have you heard of anything bigger than an atom bomb? It is a hydrogen bomb. BJP people, be ready, a hydrogen bomb is coming. People are soon going to find out the reality of vote chori," he said.
"In the coming time, I am guaranteeing you that after the hydrogen bomb (comes), Narendra Modi ji will not be able to show his face to the country," he added.
Rahul had previously stated the Congress spent six months examining Mahadevapura's voter rolls, where it found suspected irregularities. Of 1,00,250 suspect entries, 40,009 had "fake and invalid addresses," and 10,452 were "bulk voters" with common addresses, he said. Some of them had even listed "0" in the address column, non-verifiable information, and non-existent places.
Meanwhile, opposition parties have been agitating against the Election Commission's current special revision of electoral rolls. They claim that the process is a bid to "disenfranchise voters" in Bihar in the run-up to the upcoming assembly elections.
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