After Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission and the BJP of having perpetrated “a huge criminal fraud” in polls in 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bangalore Central seat, the BJP lashed out at him terming the claims bogus and a “calculated deceit” aimed at tarnishing the poll panel’s image.
Alleging that the Congress targets Constitutional institutions when their actions “don’t not suit” them, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “Special revision of the electoral rolls has happened numerous times… In Maharashtra, with the same electoral rolls, Congress and its ally got a majority in Lok Sabha and were happy. When they lost badly in Vidhan Sabha, it became a problem for them.”
Similarly, he said, whether it was Karnataka or anywhere, the claims by Rahul and his team are completely bogus. “They are targeting the EC only to tarnish its image.”
Rijiju alleged that Congress leaders had targeted the judiciary and now the EC. “Every time whenever it doesn’t suit them, they start attacking the institutions,” he said as he again urged the Opposition to “let the Parliament function” and to not “divert the attention of the House” over SIR.
He said that since the EC was carrying out electoral roll revision, the “government cannot speak on behalf of the independent Constitutional authorities”.
Referring to Gandhi as “Bayan Bahadur” (someone who makes tall claims) who has “completely lost his composure in the agony of losing power,” Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in a post on X, “The ideologically hollow Congress party is systematically attacking constitutional institutions. It cannot be ruled out that there is a larger conspiracy against India’s democracy and Constitution behind this calculated deceit.”
“In a democracy, the people’s decision is universally accepted, and by attacking the Election Commission, Rahul Gandhi is insulting the discerning decision of the public. Where was Rahul Gandhi when the Election Commission invited every party to file complaints regarding SIR in Bihar? Neither Congress nor any party from the INDI alliance approached the Election Commission at that time,” he said.
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“This double standard will no longer work — praising the Election Commission when victorious and calling it biased when defeated! Rahul Gandhi needs to understand that his family’s victory is not the definition of democracy. The people of Bihar are now ready to give a befitting reply to such opponents of democracy and the constitution,” he said.
Criticising the “selective outrage”, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra asked why the Congress did not present voter lists of states where it had won the elections. “Till this day, neither Rahul Gandhi nor the Congress have addressed a press conference in states where they won (the elections)… people are watching this selective outrage … when you win in Himachal Pradesh, you do not say that the Election Commission took part in a fraud,” he said.
“You win in Telangana… you do not question anyone; when you get 99 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, you celebrate across the country… if the nation’s democracy has lost, how have you won? If the EC is compromised according to you, what are you celebrating? This selective outrage is evident in both the Congress and Rahul Gandhi,” Patra said.
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said voters will continue to reject the Congress for such “irresponsible and shameless” character and conduct. Gandhi has called the EC a fraud, crossing all limits of “shamelessness”, he said, adding that the Congress leader has made allegations out of “frustration and anger” because people are not giving their mandate to his party.
