The BJP on Thursday dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s allegation of rigging in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as “election rage” borne out of non-performance.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, BJP MP and national spokesperson Sambit Patra said the kind of language Rahul Gandhi used for the Election Commission of India (ECI) was unbecoming of the leader of the Opposition.
“Rahul Gandhi threatened the officials of the election commission, he said, ‘There will be serious consequences if we do not get an answer regarding my press conference.’ This is the language of election rage… a result of non-performance. Just like we see cases of road rage, similarly, Rahul Gandhi is going through election rage due to non-performance,” Patra said.
He stated the BJP played the role of the Opposition for the longest time but never threatened the officials of the election commission. “Our party played the role of the Opposition party for the longest time, but none of our leaders ever threatened the officials of the Election Commission of India,” he added.
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Referring to Raul Gandhi’s purported remarks during a press briefing earlier in the day that Pulwama and Operation Sindoor were a pretext to eliminate anti-incumbency, the BJP spokespersons asked, “What does this mean, did India orchestrate an attack on itself? And then put the entire blame on Pakistan? Is Rahul Gandhi saying that the attack on Pakistan was done just to suppress the anti-incumbency wave and gain votes?”
He further added, “Perhaps it is because of this thinking that the Supreme Court asked you (Rahul Gandhi) — Are you a true Indian?”
Patra also accused Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party of selective outrage, saying they never questioned the election results of states where they won. “Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party never did any press conference on those states where they won the election…The public of the nation is seeing this selective outrage…If the Election Commission of India is compromised, as he says, then how can they celebrate their victory on 99 seats in the Lok Sabha elections,” he added.
The BJP’s response came shortly after Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference to release what he described as “criminal evidence” to back his election rigging claim.
Gandhi gave a detailed presentation, citing the example of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, where the BJP defeated the Congress by a margin of 32,707 votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“The BJP secured 6,58,915 votes, winning with a margin of 32,707,” he pointed out. However, in the Mahadevapura assembly segment, he claimed that the Congress received 1,15,586 votes, whereas the BJP garnered 2,29,632 votes.
“The Congress won all the Assembly segments except this one, where the BJP swept and secured a margin of 1,14,046 votes. This seat significantly contributed to their election win, and the Lok Sabha result went in their favour,” he said.
He claimed that upon examining the details, the Congress party discovered that approximately 1,00,250 votes were “stolen” out of 6,50,000 total votes in the Mahadevapura assembly segment.
The Congress MP alleged that the votes were stolen in five ways: duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, bulk voters registered at single addresses, invalid photos, and misuse of Form 6.