Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Monday launched the nationwide ‘Vote Chor Gaddi Chor’ signature campaign in Pasighat, East Siang district, as part of a call given by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The campaign aims to highlight alleged electoral fraud and demand greater transparency from the Election Commission of India.
Launching the drive, APCC President Bosiram Siram said the Congress party plans to collect five crore signatures from citizens across the country. These will be submitted to the President of India and the Election Commission to press for reforms and accountability.
Siram inaugurated the campaign in the presence of party councillors and District Congress Committee (DCC) office bearers.
The initiative, which began in August with torchlight marches across the country, has expanded to Arunachal Pradesh through rallies, grassroots mobilization, and public meetings.
“Vote Chori Signature Campaign is a people’s movement to safeguard democracy. The right to vote is sacred – it is the voice of the people, the strength of the poor, the hope of the youth, and the guarantee of justice. Yet, we are witnessing how this sacred right is being looted and stolen,” Siram said.
He slammed the ruling BJP for what he described as systematic “vote theft,” allegedly aided by the misuse of ECI’s authority.
He emphasised that the campaign is not only about collecting signatures but also about “raising a collective voice against injustice.”
The campaign will involve door-to-door visits, street-to-street mobilization, and awareness drives across the villages and towns of Arunachal Pradesh.
APCC chief emphasized that clean voter rolls and transparent processes are crucial for free and fair elections. He called upon citizens from all walks of life to join the movement.
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APCC has also submitted specific demands before the Election Commission, including making voting machines fully verifiable, public release of deletion and addition lists with photographs before every election, establishing a grievance redressal system for wrongful deletions, announcing a clear cut-off date in advance to prevent last-minute manipulations and prosecuting officials or agents involved in voter suppression.
