The Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress on Thursday held a ‘Raj Bhawan Gherao’ protest march from the Congress headquarters in Shimla to the Raj Bhawan, alleging large-scale “vote chori” (vote theft) across the country.
They also burned an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the saffron party of making fake votes in the state.
National Youth Congress general secretary and Himachal Pradesh in-charge Shesh Narayan Ojha, who led the march, accused the Election Commission of acting as an extension of the ruling party. “Despite Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi repeatedly asking questions through press conferences and demonstrations, the Election Commission has not responded even once. What should this be considered theft or arrogance? Have you accepted slavery to the RSS and BJP?” he said.
“We wanted to meet the governor to hand over the memorandum, but we were informed that he is not here. Congress will continue to fight this vote theft on the streets. The kind of brokerage being done by the Election Commission for the BJP and RSS will have to be answered,” he added.
The Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress president Chhatar Singh alleged that state BJP president Rajiv Bindal’s daughter is a registered at two different places. “I accuse Himachal BJP president Dr Rajeev Bindal of registering his daughter’s name in two different places under two different parental names. Whether it is Karnataka, Maharashtra or Haryana, a Brazilian model, an actress, is shown voting in 22 different constituencies. This kind of ghost voting is an attack on the limits of democracy. All constitutional institutions and those who believe in the Constitution feel that it is being exploited,” said Thakur.
{{/usCountry}}The Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress president Chhatar Singh alleged that state BJP president Rajiv Bindal’s daughter is a registered at two different places. “I accuse Himachal BJP president Dr Rajeev Bindal of registering his daughter’s name in two different places under two different parental names. Whether it is Karnataka, Maharashtra or Haryana, a Brazilian model, an actress, is shown voting in 22 different constituencies. This kind of ghost voting is an attack on the limits of democracy. All constitutional institutions and those who believe in the Constitution feel that it is being exploited,” said Thakur.
{{/usCountry}}“This data is not from the youth Congress; this is EC data that we are sharing with you. After our earlier signature campaign and press conference, today’s protest was another step. We wanted to submit a memorandum through the Governor so it could reach the President, but he was unavailable. We will act as per further directions from our central leadership,” he said adding, “We aim to alert voters from district to booth level.”
BJP Himachal Pradesh Media In-charge Karan Nanda, termed all allegations of Youth Congress as baseless. He said, “Congress leaders are experts in lying and if there were an Olympic competition for lying, they would certainly win the gold medal.”
He added that the Congress leaders’ allegations that BJP leaders and their families are double voters are completely baseless and politically motivated. “This is merely a failed attempt to tarnish the image of BJP leaders, which the people of the state will never accept,” he added.