Rahul Gandhi has tea with 'dead' voters from Bihar, takes a dig at EC

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (August 13) posted a video on X showing his meeting with voters from Bihar who have been allegedly declared “dead” in the electoral roll. The meeting took place in Delhi.

However, the video does not directly mention the draft electoral role recently published by the Election Commission (Bihar) following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

“There have been many interesting experiences in life, but I never got the chance to have tea with 'dead people.' For this unique experience, thank you, Election Commission!” stated Rahul in the post in a dig at the EC.

‘Heard that you are not alive’

Rahul is heard saying in the video telling the affected voters that he has heard that they “are not alive”, to which a voter responds saying “We are alive but have been declared dead.”

Asked by Rahul how he came to know about it, another affected voter said that they got the information from the voters’ list. “We found our name is not there,” added the voter.

Also Read: Congress mobilises grassroots campaign on ‘vote fraud’ ahead of Bihar elections

‘Election Commission killed you’

Rahul, in another sarcastic jibe at the EC, responded saying “Then you checked why your name is not there and came to know that you have died? The Election Commission killed you.”

“What do you think? How many people are there like you?” asked Rahul. He was told that, in one panchayat, there are at least 50 such people. He was also told that currently, people from three to four polling booths came to meet him.

Responding to Rahul’s question whether there are more such people in these three or four booths, one of the affected voters said, “Yes, there are more such people, who have not been able to reach here so far.”

Also Read: Rahul says fight is for ‘one man, one vote’ as police detain him during SIR protest

‘Elderly woman declared dead’

Rahul was also told that one person present in the meeting was from the Raghopur Assembly constituency, which is currently witnessing a flood.

“He got to know that he was shown as dead in the voters' list. People got the list given by the Election Commission at the local level. Here is an 85-year-old woman who was declared dead. Her son got to know that her name had been removed from the voters' list,” one person in the meeting told Rahul.

Also Read: ‘Vote chori’ claims: EC says documents shown by Rahul don't belong to poll body

‘EC refusing to share data’

Rahul alleged that the EC does not want to share detailed data on names which have been deleted from the voters’ list in Bihar, adding that if the poll panel does show, then their game would be over.

“The Election Commission does not want to share information. If they do, their game will be over. We are trying our best to stop it. We are doing it together with RJD. We will stop it. We will not allow fraud and vote theft,” he added.