NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged a deep-seated conspiracy to manipulate elections and steal the voting rights from the citizens in order to permanently cling to power, over the recent announcement of welfare scheme benefits which will be determined by Voter ID cards instead of the Aadhaar Card.
In a post on X, Gandhi claimed that the new arrangement threatens the fundamental rights of citizens by tying essential government benefits directly to electoral rolls, which he alleged are being manipulated. He also stated that those who are “furious with the BJP” will be the first ones to be targeted.
“Modi government minister’s announcement Benefits of schemes will now be determined not by Aadhaar, but by Voter ID. The conspiracy runs very deep; take your time to understand it,” he said.
In the video posted by Gandhi, the Union Minister said, ” Now the basis for payment to the beneficiaries will not be the Aadhaar card. The Aadhaar card is now available from organizations in every street. Just ask them, and they will get an Aadhaar card ready for you in five minutes. So, the Aadhaar card will no longer be the basis. For the payment of all the beneficiaries, the biometric and the Epic number, which is the voter ID’s Epic number, will be the basis and the payment will be made based on that.”
Using that as his fulcrum, the Lok Sabha LoP alleged that under the guise of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercises, millions of names belonging to critics and opponents of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are being systematically targeted and removed from voter lists.
He noted, “Under the guise of SIR, millions of names are being struck off voter lists; if not stopped, even more will be removed. Whose names are being targeted the most? Those who are furious with the BJP.”
Gandhi further accused the government of centralising control over electoral databases. He said that now the votes are directly in the hands of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who has been “caught red-handed.”
“Voter lists should be in the hands of an impartial Election Commission, but now they’re in the hands of Modi government employee Gyanesh Kumar, whose collusion with the BJP in vote theft we’ve caught red-handed with evidence. The preparation is underway to craft such a list where the majority is always BJP’s, and now that very list will decide whether you get scheme benefits or not,” he said.
He asserted that the preparation is underway to craft curated voter rolls to ensure a permanent electoral advantage for the ruling party, transforming India into a “hijacked democracy where the people don’t elect the government, the government selects its people.”
“Name struck, vote gone. Vote gone, rights gone,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi further alleged that this arrangement is a way to steal elections and is meant to steal the voting rights of the citizens.
“This isn’t politics to win elections; it’s an arrangement to steal elections and a permanent setup to cling to power. Voting is your right, not a condition. A poor person’s pension cannot be enslaved to their voter card. This isn’t just vote theft; it’s rights theft. We won’t let this happen,” he asserted.
