"Who Is Priyanka Gandhi": Bihar Woman Flares Up Over T-Shirt Protest

Minta Devi, a home-maker from a rural family in Bihar's Siwan, had a rude awakening today, finding her name on headlines as Congress's Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her team wore T-shirts emblazoned with her face. The 35-year-old has become another milestone in the Congress's "voter chori (vote theft)" campaign, with her age recorded as 124 years in the electoral rolls.  

Ms Gandhi Vadra has raised big questions on the mistake of the Election Commission, saying there were multiple cases on electoral rolls full of fake data - names, family addresses.

NDTV traced Minta Devi, registered as a voter in Siwan's Daraunda Assembly constituency. "I am a housewife, I am sad to be used politically and made a pawn in this way. My only request is that my voter ID be corrected," she told reporters today.

Read: Opposition MPs Wear "124-Year-Old Minta Devi" Shirts. Poll Body Says "Error"

Minta Devi said her family - currently living in Prabhunath Nagar, Chhapra - are desperate to escape the sudden publicity. It is mental torture to her family -- husband, children and in-laws. 

"Who is Priyanka Gandhi to print my face in a T-shirt and wear it and oppose me? I have been facing problems since morning. People have been calling me. Reporters have been turning up at my doorstep," she said. 

Explaining how the error happened, she said her date of birth has been recorded in the voter ID card as 1900. Her date of birth on Aadhaar is 1990. 

She said she wanted the mistake in her voter ID card rectified. They had got to know about the error two days ago. "But it is no business of Priyanka Gandhi. Why is she interfering?" she said. The mistake in the voter ID card is not her fault, she pointed out. "Why is she opposing me?" she added.

Told that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is fighting in her support, she said, "How is this support? She is wearing my face and name. She has made my address public. Why should she support me? Who is she to me? She is not my relative".

The family has appealed to the Election Commission to correct this error as soon as possible, so that their reputation can be maintained.
The Election Commission officials have defended the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) exercise ni Bihar, saying many "non-eligible persons" have been able to procure voter cards as the SIR was not held periodically since 2004. Also "many persons" have, knowingly or unknowingly, managed to retain multiple voter cards of different constituencies, they have said.