Rahul Gandhi alleges 'vote theft', says entire Opposition will unite at Ramlila Maidan

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that millions of voters were being disqualified through the deletion of their names from electoral rolls, accusing the government of facilitating what he called "vote theft".

Addressing a press conference at 10, Rajaji Marg, Member of Parliament said there was widespread public anger over the issue and urged people to join the opposition's November 1 rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi.

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The show of strength by the opposition INDIA bloc shows they are not willing to back down from the planned November 1 gathering after traders urged them to drop the idea amid festive shopping season in the national capital.

"Now you watch what happens at Ramlila Ground. You watch how many people come, and you watch how many people they manage to stop, and you will understand what is going on in this country," Gandhi said.

He alleged that millions of people were being denied their voting rights and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat of benefiting from the alleged manipulation of electoral rolls.

Gandhi said the protest was not being organised by individual opposition parties but was a united effort by the entire Opposition.

"This is not multiple protests. This is one protest. The entire opposition is standing here. Anybody who wants to protest, any person is welcome to come here," he said.

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The Congress leader said the opposition was united in its efforts to defend the Constitution, the idea of India and citizens' right to vote.

"We are defending the vote, which is the expression of all Indians," he added.

The remarks come amid the INDIA bloc's campaign against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and its 'vote chori' allegations against the Election Commission.

The opposition bloc had planned a symbolic 'public impeachment' of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence at 10, Rajaji Marg, on Friday. However, the programme was postponed to October 31 due to rain, according to PTI sources.