Congress to hold 'vote chori' rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on Dec 14

The Congress will intensify its campaign over the “vote chori” issue with a rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday (December 13), aiming to hold the government and the Election Commission (EC) accountable for allegedly “colluding” to rig elections.

Congress's 'vote chori' rally

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi are expected to address the gathering. Senior leaders, including Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and Sachin Pilot, are also set to take part in the rally.

Also Read: Congress's Bihar rout review sweeps aside 'ticket selling' allegations, shifts blame to 'vote chori'

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is likewise expected to attend.

The senior leaders will assemble at the Indira Bhawan headquarters of the party and then proceed to Ramlila Maidan in a bus.

Massive signature campaign

Congress general secretary in charge of organisation KC Venugopal has said the party has collected about 5.50 crore signatures against "vote chori".

"Rahul demonstrated with evidence how vote chori is happening... He challenged the Home Minister of India to have a debate with him on the press conferences. But the home minister didn't reply to that either," he said, adding the Congress is holding a "massive rally" on December 14 to highlight this issue.

"People are discussing this issue, and we have decided to give this momentum. After this rally, we have also requested a meeting with the President of India to submit this memorandum with 5.5 crore signatures," Venugopal said.

Lok Sabha debate on SIR

The rally comes days after a fiery debate in the Lok Sabha on election reforms, which saw the government and the opposition face off over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and other alleged electoral irregularities.

Also Read: Rahul raises questions on SIR; says Cong will fight it politically, organisationally, legally

Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Lok Sabha, Rahul had launched a no-holds-barred attack on the government and the EC. He posed three questions, which, he claimed, make it clear that the BJP is "directing and using" the EC to damage India's democracy.

Making suggestions, Rahul had called for providing machine-readable voter lists to all parties one month before elections, rescinding the law that allows destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days, giving access to EVMs, and changing the law that allows the election commissioners "to get away with whatever they want to do".

"When you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country, you destroy modern India, you destroy the idea of India," Rahul had said, gesturing towards the treasury benches.

Amit Shah hits back

On Friday (December 12), Rahul had hailed his party MPs' performance during the debates in both Houses on Vande Mataram and election reforms, and claimed that the government's narrative was shredded to pieces by the opposition.

Intervening in the debate on election reforms in the Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had hit out at the Opposition for its campaign against SIR, saying the issue has been raked up as it can no longer win elections by "corrupt practices".

Also Read: 3 questions, 1 answer: BJP turning EC into vote-theft tool, says Rahul Gandhi

The home minister also asserted that the reason for the Congress' defeat in successive polls was its leadership, not EVMs or "vote chori". The debate on Election Reforms is on in the Rajya Sabha.