Congress extends ‘vote chori’ campaign; launches ‘Vote Rakshak’ website, app

• Congress extends its ‘Vote Chori’ campaign till 15 December and launches the next phase, ‘Vote Rakshak’.

• Party plans a verification app and website to help voters check electoral rolls and flag deletions.

• Venugopal calls for Constitution Day marches and village-level chaupals to deepen grassroots mobilisation.

The Congress has extended its nationwide campaign against ‘vote chori’ (theft) by nearly three weeks, until 15 December, and plans to take it down to the polling booth level with a verification app and a dedicated website to help voters check their names on electoral rolls and flag deletions, sources told National Herald.

The next phase of the campaign, which the party has named ‘Vote Rakshak’, will combine technology with grassroots mobilisation to identify alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and help voters protect their right to vote. The decision was taken at a two-hour review meeting chaired by AICC general-secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal.

AICC general-secretaries, state Congress presidents and states in-charge attended the meeting, which reviewed the campaign's progress on the ground, its impact on party cadres and the political traction it had generated.

The Congress had initially planned to conclude the campaign on 26 November, Constitution Day. However, the response to the campaign and what the party described as the success of its 1 November rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan have prompted it to extend the drive to 15 December.

As part of the next phase, Venugopal directed party leaders to organise ‘Samvidhan Raksha Marches’ across the country on 26 November. Village-level chaupals will also be held to take the campaign to the grassroots.

Sources said the party has developed a verification app for its workers to check, at the polling booth level, the details of voters whose names have been deleted from electoral rolls.

The Congress has also designed an ‘I Am Vote Rakshak’ website through which voters will be able to check whether their names figure on the electoral rolls and lodge complaints if they find that they have been deleted.

The technology-driven push assumes significance as the party prepares to intensify the campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab, where Assembly elections are due in 2027.

The review meeting also assessed the 1 November rally at Ramlila Maidan. The party leadership described it as a major success, saying it had energised the cadre and brought the issue of ‘Vote Chori’ to the forefront of political discourse.

The rally had transformed the campaign into a mass mobilisation drive, giving party workers an issue to take up on the ground, a leader who attended the meeting told National Herald.

"Earlier, the campaign was largely confined to national-level political discussions and rallies addressed by the top leadership, with little enthusiasm among the rank and file. But the success of the Ramlila Maidan rally has sent a message that the fight against Vote Chori must now be taken to the grassroots, with party cadres actively mobilising on the ground," the leader said.

Some leaders also suggested extending the campaign until 26 January, Republic Day. However, no decision was taken on the proposal.