'Cutting 130m voters unacceptable': Shashi Tharoor targets EC amid INDIA bloc's rally

Shashi Tharoor speaks on INDIA bloc protest

NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday accused the Election Commission of depriving voters of their constitutional rights, alleging that the removal of 130 million names from electoral rolls was unacceptable.Tharoor said the campaign's message is “Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao” as several INDIA bloc leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Mamata Banerjee, Farooq Abdullah, Tejashwi Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Supriya Sule, Abhishek Banerjee and KC Venugopal, move towards Ramlila Maidan for the mega rally.

He also questioned the alleged large-scale deletion of voters' names, citing Rahul Gandhi's claim that 130 million voters had been removed.“You cannot cut 130 million voters, as Rahul Gandhi pointed out yesterday. 15 % of the Indian adult population has been cut. This is not acceptable. What we need is an absolutely clean election register. It is better to have one or two dead people there than cut out 130 million real people. This is a real problem,” he said.

The rally comes amid a political confrontation over electoral roll revisions, with the opposition accusing the Election Commission of large-scale voter deletions. The ruling side, meanwhile, has accused the opposition of using the banner of democracy to create unrest, damage the economy and destabilise an elected government.