On Constitution Day, Kharge makes a clarion call to bring back ballot papers

The Congress chief also urged Rahul Gandhi to lead a campaign similar to his iconic Bharat Jodo Yatra to create awareness on the need for returning to ballots.

New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday made a fervent plea for return to ballot paper in place of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in which votes of Dalits, adivasis and OBCs were going waste.

He urged Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to lead a campaign similar to his iconic Bharat Jodo Yatra to create awareness on the need for returning to ballot paper.

Kharge's remarks at a 'Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyaan' programme by the Congress on the occasion of 75th anniversary of adoption of the Constitution came on a day the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking return to ballot paper.

"The votes cast by SCs, STs and OBCs in our favour are disappearing. We need to get rid of EVMs. We don't need EVMs. We need ballot papers. Let them keep the EVMs in the houses of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi or (Home Minister Amit) Shah or they can keep them in the godowns in Ahmedabad," he said.

"If voting is done through paper ballots, then they (BJP) will know what their position is and where they stand. From our party, we should start this campaign to make everyone aware that they should want ballot paper back. We'll speak to other political parties also," he said.

Congress has been alleging manipulation of EVMs and electoral process for its losses in Haryana and Maharashtra though a section in the party has refused to buy the argument, as they feel organisational issues were the reason behind the rout.

With the I.N.D.I.A. bloc facing a debacle in Maharashtra, Kharge alleged that billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani had a "big hand" in ensuring the victory of the BJP-led Maha Yuti. 

"Modi has given him so much wealth that he was distributing in elections for the BJP," he claimed. Rahul has led the Opposition campaign against Adani, who is accused of being benefited due to his proximity to Modi, following allegations of fraud and manipulation.

He accused the BJP of destroying the Constitution and said they do not have constitutional values, no institutional integrity, no federal character while trying to destroy whatever is in the Constitution one by one.

"During the last eleven years of the BJP rule, there was neither freedom of speech nor freedom of religion and only 'kaato aur baato'  (divide and kill). Congress will never let that happen. Nobody will be divided or die in the name of religion. We will protect and defend the country together," he said.

"They are saying 'baatenge to katenge', but who is dividing the country? It is them who are trying to divide the country by spreading hatred and misleading people in the name of religion. They talk of the Constitution, but when the Constitution was adopted, the RSS had said it is based on the western culture and it should be based on 'Manusmriti'," he said.

In the Lok Sabha elections, Kharge said people stopped Modi's juggernaut or otherwise he would have become a "dictator". 

"Modi was now standing on two crutches of TDP's Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar. The moment one crutch is taken out, Modi will fall. If we had worked a bit more hard, BJP would have got less than 200 seats. Then he would not have formed the government," he said.

He also said Modi was scared of Caste Census because if the exercise is undertaken, then all sections of society would ask for their share. (ENDS)