New Delhi: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police has filed a new FIR against Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald case. This FIR was filed after the ED filed a complaint with the EOW. Members of the Congress Working Committee on Sunday accused the BJP of targeting Rahul Gandhi by filing an FIR against him in the National Herald case because he was exposing the BJP’s vote theft.
The CWC members were upset with the Delhi Police filing an FIR in the National Herald money laundering case, in which former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, along with several others, have been named as accused. The Congress has dismissed the allegations as false and said that the case is part of the BJP’s political conspiracy since it came to power at the Centre in 2014.
According to CWC members, the recent targeting was because Rahul Gandhi had described the ongoing sweeping changes to voter lists in nine states and three union territories as vote theft. Similar threats were made when Rahul Gandhi exposed the controversial Land Acquisition Bill, demonetization, and the three black agricultural laws in previous years.
CWC member Jagdish Thakor told ETV Bharat, “They (the BJP) are upset with how he is exposing vote theft through various means. Furthermore, they have directed the party to expose the SIR scam and are also mobilizing opposition parties on this issue. They don’t have answers to the questions Rahul Gandhi has raised. Therefore, they are targeting him by filing an FIR in the National Herald case to divert public attention. This case is fake.”
Jagdish Thakor said that the BJP should have learned from its past experience. Once Rahul Gandhi identifies an issue, he takes it to its logical conclusion. A concern for the BJP is that its public perception of vote theft is being exposed. The December 14 rally against SIR in Delhi will send this message across the country.
SIR is being implemented in Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and three UTs: Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry. A special revision of the voter list is underway in Assam, which is separate from SIR.
CWC Permanent Invitee Girish Chodankar said that in the recent Bihar elections, in which the opposition INDIA Bloc lost, the BJP tried to shift the blame onto Rahul Gandhi, who had launched an aggressive campaign against SIR before the elections.
Chodankar told ETV Bharat, “The defeat in Bihar was primarily due to vote theft and the bribery of women voters with 10,000 rupees. They deleted the opposition’s votes through the SIR. Then they tried to defame our leader over the Bihar results, but he is not going to give up on the issue of vote theft. In fact, he has exposed vote theft in many other places, but the Election Commission has not responded.”
Congress insiders said that the NH case was raised again a day before the winter session of Parliament, where vote theft will be the oldest issue Congress will raise. The Congress, which is raising shortcomings such as the short timescale for the SIR and the deaths of BLOs related to it, will press for a full debate on all aspects of the controversial voter list revision in the House.
AICC Maharashtra in-charge secretary BM Sandeep told ETV Bharat, “Every action has a backlash. The more they target our leader, the stronger their resolve becomes. The BJP doesn’t understand the identity of Rahul Gandhi, who comes from a family whose members have never bowed to threats. Furthermore, the public can understand the issue of vote theft and has realized the threat to democracy.”
He said that the BJP may become aggressive in the House regarding its victory in Bihar, but the Congress is not going to back down. Recently, 1.1 million fake voters were detected in Mumbai. We have previously alleged similar vote theft across the state, but the EC has yet to provide any clarification.
