Patna: The ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ launched by Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in Bihar faced an embarrassing moment after a woman who had earlier claimed that her family’s names were missing from the voters list retracted her statement.
Ranju Devi, a resident of Chapla village, was introduced to Gandhi on Sunday, August 17, during his 1,300-kilometre march that seeks to highlight alleged irregularities in the draft electoral rolls for Bihar released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) after its Special Intensive Review (SIR) exercise in the state.
The woman faced cameras and claimed that the names of six members of her family were missing from the list. However, speaking to India Today/Aaj Tak later, she admitted her family was misled. Ranju Devi clarified that her family’s names were there on the voters list and that she had earlier said what she had been instructed to say by local officials.
“We’re simple village folk. We said what we were told,” she said.
Ranju Devi’s husband Sudhir Ram backed her account, blaming ward officers for the mix-up.
“The ward member and the ward secretary told us that our family’s names are not on the voter list. So, we got very scared. Those people took us to Rahul Gandhi. It was only later that we found out that our names are on the voter list,” he said.
The Election Commission of India (EC) has also issued a statement, saying the names were there in the voters list.
The Congress and its INDI Alliance partners are part of the “vote chori” campaign that accuses the ECI and BJP of colluding to disenfranchise valid voters through the SIR exercise.
Gandhi has carried on with his march though, despite the hiccup. The Yatra will pass through more than 20 districts, including Gaya, Nalanda, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Darbhanga, and Champaran, before concluding with a rally in Patna on September 1.
