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Expressing their resentment against the alleged vote fraud by the Election Commission, over 300 Members of Parliament (MPs) from 25 opposition parties are set to march from the Parliament to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters in the national capital on Monday.
The protest is scheduled to start at 11:30 am from Parliament's Makar Dwar, to voice strong opposition against alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with a specific focus on the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
A broad spectrum of parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party, TMC, DMK, AAP, Left parties, RJD, NCP(SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), and National Conference, are expected to participate in the protest march.
Notably, the march will be held without the INDIA bloc banner to accommodate the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which recently exited the alliance but maintains 12 MPs. Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose confirmed the broad participation, stating, "This is a programme of the Opposition and we expect AAP to join it."
Protesters plan to carry posters and banners in multiple languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and Marathi, to articulate their dissent against the Bihar SIR exercise and to highlight their claims of "vote theft."
The Congress has also launched a web portal for citizens to register their support and demand accountability from the Election Commission, specifically calling for the release of digital voter rolls.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, took to X to emphasise the significance of the protest, stating, "'Vote Chori' is an attack on the foundational idea of ‘one man, one vote’. A clean voter roll is imperative for free and fair elections." He reiterated the opposition's demand for transparency from the EC, urging them to release digital voter rolls for auditing to "protect democracy."
“Vote Chori is an attack on the foundational idea of ‘one man, one vote’. A clean voter roll is imperative for free and fair elections,” Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi posted on X. “Our demand from the EC is clear — be transparent and release digital voter rolls so that people and parties can audit them. The fight is to protect the democracy.”
Gandhi's allegations of vote manipulation stem from his claims last week that over 100,000 votes were "stolen" through various methods in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of Karnataka's Bangalore Central constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He had presented findings at a press conference, stating, "We started examining the details and discovered that approximately 1,00,250 votes were stolen in the Mahadevapura assembly."
The Election Commission has publicly refuted Gandhi's claims, terming them "incorrect" in multiple social media posts and requesting him to submit the data of alleged dubious voters under oath. Meanwhile, Delhi Police has indicated that the march may not be permitted to reach the EC office, located less than 2 km away, as no formal request for permission has been submitted.
