- Rahul Gandhi made a presentation alleging BJP vote theft in Karnataka using photo evidence at INDIA Bloc meet
- He accused six main voter irregularities including multiple registrations and fake addresses
- Meeting attendees included leaders from Congress, NCP, PDP, SP, TMC, Shiv Sena-UBT, DMK, CPI(M)
The dinner meet of the INDIA Bloc, called to discuss the Special Intensive Revision or SIR in Bihar, Vice-Presidential elections and other issues on Thursday evening, became the stage for Rahul Gandhi's second presentation of the day on what he called the BJP's "vote theft" in Karnataka with the connivance of the Election Commission.
Armed with a powerpoint presentation that included photo evidence of fake voters, Mr Gandhi took 50 leaders from 25 parties through the irregularities that took place, he claimed, in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Earlier today, Mr Gandhi had sparked a massive row with his allegations, pushing the Election Commission to demand that he formally seek an investigation or submit a declaration under oath.
Mr Gandhi has alleged that a survey in Karnataka has found that six main irregularities were at play - same voter appearing multiple times in rolls, same voter in multiple states, non-existent addresses, bulk voters at a single address, indistinguishable photo on voter IDs and misuse of Form 6 for first-time voters.
Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi called the meeting "positive". "Rahul Gandhi made a power point presentation, he gave several examples. He also said what is happening in Bihar today can happen anywhere in the country," he was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.
"The way opposition parties have been united in Parliament in national interest and have cornered the government, the same unity was visible in the meeting as well," Mr Gogoi said.
CPI general secretary D Raja said the meeting was "very meaningful". "Today's meeting was very meaningful, the issue was ongoing controversy, SIR, and how EC has been functioning, how wrong things are being done as far as enrolment of voters are concerned, their identities are concerned," Mr Raja said.
"I saw how votes are stolen," said National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah. His party, he said, flagged the issue of restoration of statehood and the massive new row over the ban on 25 books by eminent authors. "We regret that this is unconstitutional, it should not be done," he said.
Besides key Congress leaders, the meet was attended by NCP-SP leader Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah, PDP's Mehbooba Mufti, SP's Akhilesh Yadav, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, CPI(M)'s M A Baby, CPI's Raja, CPI(ML)'s Dipankar Bhattacharya and MNM chief Kamal Haasan.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana CM Revanth Reddy were also present.
India Block leaders are scheduled to hold a protest march from Parliament House to Election Commission on August 11 against SIR in Bihar. Rahul Gandhi will also lead a protest march to the Karnataka Election Commission Office in Bengaluru on Friday against what he calls the manipulation in the voter list.
