Activist Dhruv Rathee has launched a new video detailing how the Bihar elections turned out to be the biggest scam the country has ever seen. The biggest allegation that the Congress faced after losing the elections was that the allegation of 'vote theft' made by Rahul Gandhi was irrelevant. However, Dhruv is supporting Congress by presenting figures and evidence that 'vote theft' was not just an allegation but a huge truth.
Dhruv says that he has no personal interest in the Bihar elections though he admits that he had a slight interest in Prashant Kishor's new party, Jansuraj Party, as a new party. Dhruv Rathee challenges the Election Commission and the Modi government to prove that the six pieces of evidence he is presenting are wrong. Detailing in Dhruv Rathee’s video follows.
1. Paid vote: Six days before the first phase of the Bihar elections and four days before the second phase, the government deposited Rs 10,000 in the accounts of women in the state. This can only be considered a legal bribe to influence voters. 1.25 lakh women were bribed in this way. The payment was given to women who joined Jeevika self-help groups. Its members are called Jeevika Didi. This is financial assistance to start a small business. But the timing of this is very important.
In addition to all this, the government is promising voters that it will give Rs 2 lakh after six months. The question is how this money can be given after the model code of conduct came into effect on November 6. Rathee doubts whether this is an election or a chit.
The Election Commission intervened and stopped the Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu just before the 2004 elections, the Andhra Pradesh government in 2024, and the Telangana government in 2023 when they tried to provide such financial assistance. This is clearly tantamount to giving bribes. This alone is enough reason to cancel the Bihar election results.
2. Fake voters: Voters who voted in other states also voted in Bihar. Nagendra Kumar voted in Delhi and Bihar, Ajit Jha voted in Haryana, Bihar and Delhi. All of them had posted photos of all this on their social media accounts. All the questions raised to the Election Commission about this were ignored. A website that investigated fake voters found that there were 14.35 lakh fake voters in Bihar alone. Dhruv said that the Election Commission should answer why there were so many fake voters in Bihar despite the existence of software to detect fake voters.
3. Special trains: Fake voters were brought from Haryana to Bihar in special trains. Kapil Sibal had earlier raised this issue in a press conference, stating that at least four special trains were running from Haryana to Bihar on the election day. There have also been videos on news channels where people who travelled on these trains say that the BJP or the Modi government is bearing all the expenses for their journey on these trains. According to the election rules, using such vehicles is considered corruption. But even after complaints were made, the Election Commission has not taken the necessary steps to stop this.
4. CCTV rules - CCTV footage from polling booths is considered major evidence in election rigging complaints. In some places, there were complaints that the same person was voting at two different places. But now it is not possible to file a complaint with this footage. According to the new rules brought by the Modi government, which overturned the previous laws, this footage will not be available to the public under the Right to Information Act. Moreover, this footage can be deleted within 45 days of the election. The argument that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar found to justify this is whether it is appropriate to give the footage of our mothers, sisters and daughters in this way. It is widely protested that the EC is hiding information by not making CCTV footage available.
5. Deletion of voters: Before the announcement of the Bihar elections, 74.2 crore voters were in the voter list of the state. Out of this, the names of about 47 lakh voters have been deleted. In the name of SIR, voters of opposition parties were identified and eliminated. It is clear from the fact that this erasure process took place mostly in Seemanchal, where the opposition has the most influence. It is also important to note that 24.7 lakh of the voters who were erased were Muslim voters. Not only Muslim voters, but Dalit voters were also erased. Some of them had their votes cast even before they reached the polling booths.
6. Biased behaviour of the Election Commission: Look at how the Election Commission is helping the BJP. Polling days are fixed in each state only on days convenient for the BJP. This is clear if you look at the polling day in West Bengal. Look at the 2011 elections in Bengal, which were held in eight phases. One can see that the Election Commission has arranged the polling days here in such a way that the campaigning in other states is stopped and the attention is given only to Modi and Amit Shah in West Bengal. Even though BJP leaders have repeatedly violated the model code of conduct, the Election Commission has never interfered in it.
Dhruv Rathee says in the video that many examples can be pointed out to understand that the Election Commission works only for the Modi government.