Nampally Assembly Polls: Feroz Khan hurls ‘vote chori’ charge at BJP, MIM for loss at the hustings

HYDERABAD: Amid ‘vote chori’ claims by the Congress’ top brass, former Nampally MLA candidate Feroz Khan has levelled serious allegations of large-scale electoral fraud in his constituency. He blamed the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) for his defeat in the 2023 Assembly polls and accused the BJP and AIMIM of working in a nexus to ensure the Congress party’s defeat in the key constituency.

Speaking to media persons at Gandhi Bhavan, Feroz Khan claimed that duplicate voter IDs were created and new bogus votes were added to the electoral rolls in Nampally during the Assembly polls. He accused the AIMIM of turning the Old City into a “dump” and challenged Owaisi to contest from Secunderabad or Jubilee Hills. “BJP and MIM are two sides of the same coin.

What MIM does in Hyderabad, BJP does all over India,” he alleged. Welcoming Rahul Gandhi’s call to address the alleged vote theft, the PCC general secretary offered to provide the Election Commission with a formal declaration and evidence, describing the situation as a major “criminal fraud” and a massive “attack on democracy.” He also demanded that the Election Commission publish the complete digital voter list for public scrutiny. Khan said that despite multiple complaints to the Election Commission, no action was taken. “Revenue officials deployed 100 staff for voter list scrutiny, but within ten days, they vanished. After five years of struggle, only 10 per cent of the bogus votes were removed, and that too mostly of deceased persons,” he said.

Recalling the 2018 Assembly election, Feroz Khan alleged that bogus voting and intimidation by rivals resulted in his defeat by 2,000 votes. He warned that unless bogus votes are eliminated, Rahul Gandhi’s chances of becoming Prime Minister could be jeopardised. “We even caught three individuals casting illegal votes; they were identified as Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s men,” he alleged.