NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday alleged that the Election Commission of India had deliberately targeted the Dalit and Muslim women voters whose names have been dropped from the
electoral rolls during the recently held Special Intensive Revision in Bihar.
Addressing a press conference, president of All India Mahila Congress, Alka Lamba revealed that 22.7 lakh women voters’ names had been removed from the electoral rolls. She said, most of these voters were removed in six districts.
Tracking the pattern, she said, 60 constituencies in six districts have been targeted for the deletion of voters’ names. She said, in the 2020 Bihar Vidhan Sabha elections, it was a close contest between the Mahagathbandhan and the NDA in these seats. She added that the voters’ names were deleted under a well-planned conspiracy to tilt the balance in NDA’s favour.
The Mahila Congress president reaffirmed her party’s commitment against the vote theft in Bihar. She said, about 23 lakh women and 15 lakh male voters’ names had been deleted during the recent SIR exercise, aimed solely at denying the right to vote to those whom the BJP fears will vote against it.
Questioning the logic of removing the voters’ names at this stage by declaring them bogus, she asked, by this argument, shouldn’t the 2024 Parliamentary elections in these areas be cancelled and conducted once again.
Lamba reaffirmed her party’s stance against the SIR and said that on October 15, the party will submit 5 crore signatures to the ECI against the vote theft in the country. She asked the ECI, the Prime Minister and the Union Home minister to stop playing such games as they have already been exposed.
The Mahila Congress president also condemned the refusal by a hospital in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh to treat a pregnant Muslim woman, just because of her religion. She asserted that such things cannot be accepted and this tendency must be nipped in the bud.