Kharge escalates ‘vote chori’ charge in Patna, demands CEC’s ouster, attacks Nitish over RSS ties

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday mounted his offensive against chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of facilitating a large-scale ‘vote-theft’ in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and called upon the people to join the INDIA bloc protest in New Delhi on November 1 to press for the CEC ouster.

Kharge, also the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha said this while addressing a function organised here to mark the 139th birth anniversary of Bihar’s first chief minister Sri Krishna Singh, popularly known as Bihar Kesari and Shri Babu. The function was organised by a senior Bihar Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member, Akhilesh Prasad Singh.

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Kharge also trained his guns against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and called on people to join the party’s campaign to force Gyanesh Kumar’s ouster. He said that the mega rally is being organised in support of other demands including immediate abrogation of the 2023 law that grants substantial immunity to the CEC and election commissioners from legal action, an immediate curb on the SIR exercise, and the dismissal of state governments formed in the last two years, claiming they came to power through vote theft.

“Electors are being cheated in the name of SIR,” he said. He alleged that governments in Bengal, Haryana, Bihar and Maharashtra had been “stolen” through such means and that those responsible would eventually face accountability.

The Congress president sharpened his attack by linking the alleged irregularities to Rahul Gandhi’s earlier warnings. “The designs of the vote chori, which were earlier flagged by the Leader of Opposition, are now getting exposed. People earlier did not rely on him when he raised the issue. Now, election commissioners have raised serious incongruities in the election process, lending credence to the vote theft charges,” Kharge said. He described the fight against SIR as a “second war of independence” and appealed to Bihar’s people to support the nationwide movement.

Kharge also targeted the broader political climate. He accused the Modi government of failing on key promises — bringing back black money in 100 days, creating two crore jobs every year, doubling farmers’ income by 2022, and making India a $5-trillion economy by the same year. Rising prices, he said, had left the poor struggling even for basic meals of roti and onion, with onions now selling at a premium.

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Turning to Bihar, Kharge alleged that “jungle raj” still prevailed in the state and took aim at JD(U) president and former chief minister Nitish Kumar for aligning with the RSS. “I am pained that socialist leaders like Nitish Kumar joined hands with people who believe in RSS ideology,” he said. In a sharper remark, he declared that there would be no peace in the country “as long as RSS ideology is not eliminated.”

Paying tribute to Sri Krishna Singh, Kharge described him as a democrat who strengthened modern Bihar by abolishing the zamindari system, advancing social justice for weaker sections, and laying foundations for agriculture, industry, education and irrigation. He recalled how Shri Babu had enabled Dalits to enter the Deoghar temple and built institutions that shaped the state’s early post-Independence trajectory.

The event, organised by the Bihar Congress, was not without internal friction. A section of party leaders put up banners near the venue demanding the resignation of BPCC president Rajesh Ram and AICC in-charge for Bihar, Krishna Allavaru, underscoring simmering discontent within the state unit even as the national leadership used the platform for a broader political offensive.