Chandigarh: Stepping up its attack on the BJP over alleged electoral manipulation, the Haryana Congress will launch a statewide ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ chaupal campaign from Nov 12 to 24, accusing the ruling party of subverting the people’s mandate in the 2024 assembly elections through organised “vote chori”.The 13-day campaign will take the Congress’s allegations of electoral irregularities directly to villages and towns, with the party planning to mobilise public opinion against the BJP and demand accountability from the Election Commission. AICC Haryana in-charge Sanjay Dutt and HPCC president Rao Narender Singh will lead the statewide tour, addressing chaupals across the state.The Congress has alleged that the BJP benefited from systematic manipulation of the electoral process in the 2024 assembly elections, in which, it claims, the people’s mandate was subverted. The party will seek to amplify allegations raised by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi regarding suspicious voter entries, duplicate voters, questionable addresses and irregularities in electoral rolls.Targeting the BJP and the Election Commission, the party has questioned the functioning of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the poll body has failed to ensure transparency and accountability and has compromised its independence.The campaign will also be used to oppose the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which the Congress has termed arbitrary and questionable. The party will demand an independent investigation into the alleged vote theft, restoration of the names of eligible voters removed from electoral rolls, and action against those responsible. It will also press for the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar and seek a criminal investigation against him.The campaign is being positioned as a major political mobilisation exercise, with the party’s entire senior leadership expected to participate. Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, AICC general secretaries Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala, CWC permanent invitee Deepender Singh Hooda, and former HPCC presidents Birender Singh, Dharampal Malik, Ashok Tanwar and Udai Bhan will join the chaupals.Congress MPs, MLAs, district unit chiefs, former ministers, former MPs and MLAs, and office-bearers of the party’s frontal organisations and cells will also participate.The party plans to take the campaign to every district, block and village, turning the alleged manipulation of electoral rolls and the 2024 election mandate into a statewide political issue. The move also signals the Congress’s attempt to keep pressure on the BJP over electoral integrity beyond the assembly election campaign.
