SIR is systematic theft of votes: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the special intensive revision (SIR) of Bihar's electoral roll "is an institutionalised" way for " vote theft" even as he reiterated his allegation of a BJP-Election Commission nexus.

"In Bihar, SIR is an institutionalised way for vote theft. Lakhs of voters' names were deleted. The Opposition is complaining, but the BJP has not complained even once. Why? Because there is a partnership between the Election Commission, the Election Commissioner and the BJP," Gandhi said at a joint press conference of Bihar's Opposition leaders at Araria.

While maintaining that the Opposition's ongoing ' voter adhikar yatra' is gaining popular support in Bihar, Gandhi once again asked why the EC, which had asked him to submit an affidavit in support of his fake voters allegation in a Karnataka constituency, didn't make the same demand from BJP leader Anurag Thakur when he too had made charges of electoral manipulation in some Opposition leaders' seats.

When asked whether he and Bihar's Opposition alliance will declare RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as their chief ministerial candidate, Gandhi parried the question by speaking on the unity of the Opposition leaders during the yatra.

Targeting the EC over SIR, Tejashwi Yadav said, "The Election Commission is no longer Election Commission. It has become a 'Godi Aayog'. Now the Election Commission is working like a cell of the BJP, a worker of the BJP. "