Bihar voter list: BJP slams Rahul Gandhi for crying foul without evidence

New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's fresh allegation of a fraud by the Election Commission in Bihar invited a sharp response on Thursday from BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya who accused him of crying foul without evidence and dismissed the Opposition agitation as "political optics".

BJP leader Malviya said that the protests were not in consonance with the fact that Opposition parties had failed to find even a single infirmity in the Bihar draft voter list that needs filing of a formal complaint with the ECI.

"If they genuinely had concerns, where are the formal complaints? Over 60,000 Booth Level Agents from Opposition parties are on the ground in Bihar, not one has filed a complaint. Not one. So, what explains the daily obstruction in Parliament?" said Malviya.

He pointed to an ECI bulletin, which said that since August 3, not a single objection related to the addition or deletion of names in the Bihar electoral roll has been filed by any political party.

Targeting Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Malviya said that on the issue of Bihar SIR, Rahul Gandhi was only indulging in deflection and disruption and crying foul without evidence.

"Rahul Gandhi continues to parrot baseless claims of 'vote pilferage', but the truth is starker - no one is voting for the Congress and its allies. The people have rejected them, loudly and clearly," said Malviya.

He said the INDIA bloc's opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is nothing but political optics, a desperate attempt to "malign" the Election Commission of India (ECI) and sow "mistrust" in democratic institutions.

In a stinging attack on Gandhi, Malviya wrote on X, "Perhaps the Yuvraj of Congress finds it impossible to accept this resounding rejection. So instead, he attacks the process, the system, the institutions, anything but his own party's rot. Democracy is undermined by those who cry foul without evidence, who obstruct without cause, and who run from accountability."

Meanwhile, the Opposition parties continued to disrupt proceedings in Parliament, demanding a debate on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

Opposition members kept on shouting slogans: "SIR wapas lo, wapas lo (withdraw SIR)". Their protests also continued outside the chambers, but within the Parliament complex.

--IANS

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