Congress to launch village-level signature campaign to track voter rolls, curb ‘vote theft’

Hyderabad: With the local body polls in Telangana approaching, the Congress government has got into a combative mode, fearing a ‘vote chori’ movement at home.

At the national level, the party is at loggerheads with the Election Commission of India (ECI), making allegations about a conspiracy with the Centre to win elections through vote theft.

‘Complete signature campaign by October 15’

To ensure the voter percentage in Telangana is the same as last Assembly and General Elections, the party is opting for a signature campaign at the village level.

Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, in a meeting with the leaders, MLAs and ministers, asked them to complete the signature campaign in villages by October 15.

A senior Congressman explained, “This is a party decision to take signatures at the village level to know the exact and the latest count. The other objective is to understand how many of them are aware of the ‘vote chori’ issue that is being raised by Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Hence, it is a two-pronged strategy.”

Festival homecoming to help with survey

With many voters set to return to their homes for the Dussehra festival, the signature campaign by the Congress party is aimed at finding out if there are still people complaining of their names being deleted from the ECI list.

‘Were their victories legitimate?’

Telangana has eight BJP MPs. Congress is raising the issue of vote theft in Telangana too, to cast a doubt in the minds of people about the legitimacy of the election of these eight MPs, explained insiders in the Congress party.

Congress and AIMIM clash over ‘bogus voting’ in Nampally

In Hyderabad, the issue of Nampally is still pending as there has not been any decision from the ECI.

The issue is about Nampally Feroze Khan alleging that AIMIM has enrolled a lot of bogus voters and is winning the elections by cheating.

Senior Congress leader Feroze Khan said, “There is a lacuna in the system that has been pointed out to the ECI. It is very important that the ECI looks into it seriously. I have been constantly saying that the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has been continuously exploiting the lacuna in the system.”

Beware of the Bihar revision, says Congress

With voter lists being revised, the Congress party wants to create awareness in people that what has happened in Bihar can also occur in Telangana.

For that reason, Natarajan has asked all the cadres from top to bottom to set up camps and undertake the campaign about alleged vote theft by the ECI.

In her meeting with the leaders, she said, “This is a very high-priority task for the party as the message of vote theft has to go to every village and every urban ward. We have upcoming local body polls and Jubilee Hills by-election in the State, and the party has to be alert and the cadre aware of this act of the ECI.”