Reiterating his stand for holding elections through ballot paper, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday claimed scams were taking place in the polls to favour the BJP.

He said the election institutions are under the control of the ruling dispensation and it is increasing its dominance by interfering in every institution.

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Addressing the AICC session here, in presence of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Kharge said, “Today the government is trying to expand its influence from the Election Commission to the Parliament. The institutions conducting elections are under the control of the government. The government is increasing its dominance by interfering in every institution.”

Referring to Maharashtra Assembly elections, he called the outcome “fraud and attack on the Constitution to destroy democracy”.

The Congress chief said Leader of Opposition Gandhi had raised the issue related to Maharashtra elections in the House, but it did not have any impact on the government.

Claiming that between the Maharashtra Assembly elections and the Lok Sabha elections, the number of voters increased by lakhs, he said, “What kind of Election Commission is this, what kind of democracy is this? They won the elections by making everything fake. This is fraud and an attack on democracy.”

He said the “fraud” that was committed in the Maharashtra assembly elections has never happened in the country before and this was done only to destroy democracy.

“We are working on the irregularities in the voters list. We will have to fight this,” the Congress chief said.

Mentioning EVMs, Kharge said developed countries all over the world have abandoned EVMs and moved towards ballot papers.

“Many countries in the world are not using EVMs, but we are dependent on EVMs. This is all fraud. The government has devised such methods which are benefiting only them, but in the coming times, the youth of the country will stand up and say that we do not want EVMs,” he said.

Accusing the BJP government of attacking the Constitution since it came to power, the Congress chief said, “In the last 11 years, our constitutional values, constitutional provisions, constitutional institutions are being constantly attacked. It is necessary to stop this.”

On the recent budget session of Parliament, he said the government ran the House in an arbitrary manner.

“Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to speak in the House. This is a matter of shame in democracy. This shows the mentality in which the government is working,” Kharge said.

In an apparent reference to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which was passed recently by the Parliament, he said “Instead of debating important issues of public concern, the government kept debating ‘communal polarization’ in the Parliament .When the people of the country were sleeping, many important bills were brought in the House at midnight. This government is slowly destroying democracy.”

The Congress chief said the Opposition wanted a discussion on Manipur, but the government never agreed to it because it wants to hide its “failures” from the public.

Referring to deportation of illegal Indian immigrants from the US, Kharge taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “The Modi government gives new slogans every day and misleads the people.But when our people were sent back from America in chains, then our Prime Minister does not say a word.
Although, Narendra Modi keeps speaking all the time, when injustice is done to the people of the country, he becomes silent.”

Without naming anyone, the Congress chief further said, “Narendra Modi is handing over ports, airports, power, mines, tele-communication sector and satellite projects to his friends without any auction, which is a threat to national security.

He asserted that this is not a personal or party issue, but a matter related to the country which everyone should think about.