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Cong MP flags voter deletions, alleges cartel in e-way contracts
Rahul Gandhi has been raising the issue of ‘vote theft’ across the country through the ‘SIR’ process, and now a BJP chief minister has acknowledged this truth, says Pawan Khera
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LUCKNOW Congress MP Pawan Khera on Friday questioned the BJP over chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s claim that 1.27 crore Hindu voters were missing from the electoral rolls, saying his party had been flagging concerns about alleged deletion of voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise across the country for months.
“They’re only saying this today. We’ve been saying for months that wherever SIR is happening across the country, voters are being deleted. Now, if their voters — or anyone who knows someone who got deleted — ask why Amit Shah is having their names removed. Do they want to lose,” asked Khera.
He said: “Rahul Gandhi has been raising the issue of ‘vote theft’ occurring across the country through the ‘SIR’ process, and now, a BJP chief minister has himself acknowledged this truth.”
Khera also alleged that a “corruption via cartel system” was functional in the state, particularly citing UP Link Expressway tenders. He said: “The Yogi government, which cancelled the Purvanchal Expressway bids in 2018 citing a ‘cartel,’ has now approved a project worth ₹17,542 crore involving an even more blatant cartel. The UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) opened financial bids for seven packages across four link expressways on September 28, 2024. Subsequently, on October 27, the Yogi cabinet approved ₹17,542 crore for these projects. Corruption is evident in the bidding data as this was not a genuine tender process, but rather a division of contracts among six companies — a scheme to which the BJP government has given its official stamp of approval.”
Khera said all these contracts are based on the EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) model. Under this model, the contractor is responsible for design, procurement of materials and construction. The entire cost is borne by the government from its exchequer. The company invests none of its own capital and does not collect any tolls. In effect, every single rupee of public money is being siphoned off in this racket, he alleged.
“These figures tell the story of a cartel. Each of the six companies placed bids for exactly three packages, and every company secured at least one contract, including one that won two. In every package, only the winning company’s bid was slightly below the estimate, while all others were above it. This implies that everyone already knew whose turn it was to win each package,” he claimed.
Khera also alleged a ₹10,000-crore scam involving medicines in UP. He cited a Supreme Court observation from September 22, 2026, which described the pricing of a cancer medication — with an MRP of ₹27,000 against a cost of ₹2,700, as robbery.
