Cong accuses BJP of 'vote theft', says those involved in tampering voter lists to face jail

Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Friday alleged that the BJP came to power in Maharashtra through ''vote theft'' with the help of the Election Commission, and claimed that those involved in tampering of voter lists would face jail in the future.

Speaking at a state-level strategy meeting organised by the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) campaign of electoral rolls, Sapkal alleged that attempts were being made to influence the electoral process through voter list revision exercises.

''Those who are murdering democracy and manipulating voter lists will have to go to jail in the coming time,'' Sapkal said.

The meeting was held at Tilak Bhavan in Dadar here under Sapkal's chairmanship and was attended by senior Congress leaders, MPs, MLAs and Booth Level Agents (BLA-1).

The leaders who were present included former Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar, Congress Working Committee members Balasaheb Thorat and Naseem Khan, AICC general secretary Gurdeep Sappal, Congress Legislative Council group leader Satej Patil.

The party said detailed discussions were held on alleged irregularities in voter lists, ''vote theft'' and issues related to the SIR campaign.

At the beginning of the meeting, a resolution congratulating party chief Mallikarjun Kharge for the Congress' victory in the Kerala assembly elections and congratulating Ramesh Chennithala on taking oath as the Home Minister of that state was passed unanimously. Newly-appointed district presidents were also congratulated.

The logo of the Congress campaign on the SIR exercise was unveiled during the meeting. Presentations and guidance sessions on the campaign were conducted.

The leaders appealed to workers to strengthen booth-level organisation and reach every voter. The party also resolved to launch a statewide awareness campaign to safeguard voters' rights.

Addressing a press conference later, Sapkal said the BLA-1 workshop under the SIR campaign had been conducted successfully and detailed booth-level planning had been completed across Maharashtra.

He said national-level experts and experienced office-bearers had trained party workers on election procedures, voter list verification, filing objections and carrying out corrections.

Sapkal announced that the Maharashtra Congress had decided to form a special committee for the SIR campaign. Satej Patil has been appointed chairman of the committee, while Abhijeet Sapkal will serve as coordinator, he said.

On the upcoming legislative council elections, Sapkal said there was enthusiasm among party workers across the state and discussions with alliance partners were progressing positively.

Targeting the Maharashtra government over the fuel shortage issue, Sapkal alleged that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was ignoring public issues.

On reservation, Sapkal accused the BJP of creating divisions among communities for political gain and demanded a caste census to resolve reservation-related issues.

Meanwhile, Vijay Wadettiwar accused the state government of corruption and claimed that more than 100 scams had taken place in the government.

Terming the government as ''anti-farmer'', he said the rural economy was collapsing while the government was only making announcements.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)