Congress leaders addressed a gathering at Sonti village in Ambala as part of the party’s ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao, Chaupal’ campaign.
Addressing the gathering, Congress leader and Ambala City MLA Nirmal Singh said that the BJP government and the Election Commission could not evade their respective responsibilities amid concerns over the deletion of names from electoral rolls. District Congress President (Rural) Dushyant Chauhan and several other party leaders also addressed the gathering.
Singh launched an attack on the BJP government, saying that democracy functioned on the basis of the people’s mandate and not the arbitrary whims of those in power. He said that if serious concerns were being raised over the deletion of names from electoral rolls, the transparency of elections and the credibility of the voting process, the government and the institutions concerned could not evade accountability.
He said the BJP must recognise that elections were not merely a means of attaining power but also a test of the public’s trust. “If those who have come to power through the people’s votes choose to turn a blind eye to questions concerning the credibility of those very votes, it amounts to an abandonment of democratic accountability. The arrogance of power cannot supersede the rights of voters,” he said.
He said that alongside challenges such as inflation, unemployment, the hardships faced by farmers and the problems encountered by the general public, protecting the right to vote was equally important. Democracy was strengthened not merely by conducting elections but also by ensuring that people retained faith in the electoral process, the Congress MLA said.
He urged party workers to conduct door-to-door outreach to raise awareness, verify electoral rolls and ensure that no eligible voter was deprived of their right to vote.
AICC in-charge Ravi Joshi said the campaign was not merely a political programme but an initiative to raise awareness among citizens about their constitutional rights. Through public gatherings in villages and wards, people were being educated on how to check electoral rolls, the importance of their votes and the protection of their democratic rights.
Campaign observer and former Haryana Youth Congress president Divyanshu Budhiraja said the omission of an eligible citizen’s name from the electoral roll was not merely an administrative oversight but a serious issue that affected their democratic rights. Transparency, impartiality and accountability were essential to maintaining public trust in the electoral process, he added.