"They want democracy of this country to run on fraud": Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan on Rahul Gandhi's allegation on EC

Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh, while talking to ANI, said, "... The opposition wants even those who are not citizens of the country to vote... They want the democracy of this country to run on fraud... No one in Bihar criticised SIR. The common people are happy with it..."

Meanwhile, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday also lashed out at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over the latter's allegations of "vote theft" by the Election Commission, alleging that the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha has not read the Constitution and has no respect for it.

Speaking to the media, Rijiju said, "Rahul Gandhi has not read the Constitution and has no respect for it. I don't have any medicines to improve Rahul Gandhi. He should come to his senses after the Supreme Court's comment."

Rijiju was referring to the Supreme Court's comment on SIR in Bihar, justifying EC's revision of electoral rolls and acknowledging that the Aadhaar card is not conclusive proof of citizenship.

Noting that there are many "smart people" in Congress, Kiren Rijiju requested them to "give some wisdom to Rahul Gandhi."

"There are some smart people in Congress, too; not all of them are like Rahul Gandhi. They should come together and give some wisdom to Rahul Gandhi," he said.

Speaking about the video that Rahul Gandhi shared of meeting with people who were declared "dead" by EC, Kiren Rijiju, referring to it as "drama" reiterated that the EC's work is to remove the names of dead people and add new voters."

"The Election Commission have 3-4 guidelines. In every state, there are Election Commissioner officers who are under the state government. They prepare electoral rolls on behalf of the EC. SC has clearly stated that the process of SIR has been going on since independence, and it should happen. It makes sure that the names of dead people are cut from the electoral rolls. So why does Rahul Gandhi do this drama of having tea? SIR is done to remove the names of dead people and add more new voters," Rijiju said.

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday shared a video of having tea with some "dead" voters from Bihar and thanked the Election Commission for this "unique" experience.

A group of voters met the Congress MP and shared how they were declared "dead" by the Election Commission and how their names were removed from the voter list after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Sharing the video, Gandhi captioned, "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!"

In the video clip posted, the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition LoP was seen meeting a group of several people who claimed that they have officially been marked "dead" in voter lists despite being alive. "I have heard that you guys are not alive. The Election Commission has killed you," the LoP stated.

He further asked them how they got to know about it, to which one of them replied that they discovered it through the Election Commission's voters list.

This development came amid a row that erupted over Rahul Gandhi's "vote theft" allegations against the Election Commission and alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in poll-bound Bihar. (ANI)