Uttar Pradesh Congress president Aradhana Mishra on Thursday alleged that the deletion of voters’ names from electoral rolls and Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to the state were both aimed at bringing about a “regime change” by replacing chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
“Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are the forces behind the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. The discrepancy between the number of voters cited by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister at a recent working committee meeting and the figure provided by the Election Commission suggests a regime change in the state,” Mishra said while addressing a press conference.
She said Amit Shah’s visit to Uttar Pradesh would guarantee a victory for the alliance, as he intended to bring about a regime change by replacing Adityanath. “Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress will not allow votes to be stolen through the SIR process,” she said.
“As per the chief minister, the figure should be 16,70,50,000, while the number of remaining voters after the SIR is 13,39,84,792. This means a reduction of 3,30,65,208 (approximately 3.31 crore) votes,” Mishra said.
She alleged that the BJP’s Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao (‘Save Democracy, End Anarchy’) yatras across the country and in Uttar Pradesh were anti-democratic, as crores of votes had been deleted under the pretext of SIR, which she described as “systematic identification and removal”.
{{/usCountry}}She alleged that the BJP’s Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao (‘Save Democracy, End Anarchy’) yatras across the country and in Uttar Pradesh were anti-democratic, as crores of votes had been deleted under the pretext of SIR, which she described as “systematic identification and removal”.
{{/usCountry}}As part of these yatras, BJP leader Nitin Nabin had visited Gorakhpur, party president JP Nadda Bareilly, and Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Lucknow. Shah had also participated in the campaign in Hyderabad and Karnal, she said.
Mishra added that the Congress, under the leadership of national president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, was fighting to protect democracy against those who “steal” votes. She expressed confidence that the party would succeed in “restoring democracy”.
Mishra also recalled a statement made by Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly on June 16, 1949: “There is no point in securing the tenure of an election commissioner if the Constitution does not contain provisions to prevent the appointment of a fool, a scoundrel, or someone who acts as a mere puppet of the government.”