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After Rahul Gandhi attacks ECI, BJP slams Congress for discrediting democratic institutions
Rahul Gandhi alleged that there was a “theft of 2.5 million votes” in Haryana, along with “5.21 lakh duplicate votes and fake votes”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday slammed the Congress and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi for “targeting the credibility” of the democratic system and institutions in the country, and colluding with anti-India forces to create a false narrative against the Election Commission of India (ECI), the judiciary and the armed forces.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju said the Congress, instead of pinning the blame for its electoral losses on Gandhi, has made it a habit to blame the ECI and the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Addressing the media soon after Gandhi’s press conference, where he alleged ‘vote theft’ and discrepancies in the voter list in Haryana, Rijiju said that every party gets a copy of the voter list ahead of elections and discrepancies can be caught in time.
“Every party has a polling agent on the ground… We have candidates, we have our agents and we monitor where any irregularities occur. If any wrongdoing happens or an official errs, we approach the courts,” Rijiju said.
Gandhi alleged that there was a “theft of 2.5 million votes” in Haryana, along with “5.21 lakh duplicate votes and fake votes”.
While clarifying that the BJP was not defending the ECI, Rijiju said since Gandhi made a reference to the party and Haryana chief minister, they wanted to clarify its position.
He said that instead of going over the voter list to check for discrepancies and submitting petitions to the Election Commission, the Congress was trying to create a narrative against the poll panel.
“When we were in opposition for a long time, we did not blame the judiciary and poll panel. Those days, all the judges were appointed by the government, now there is a collegium…the Congress used to appoint the judges. The Election Commission and the CBI directors were appointed by the government…but the BJP never said we do not have faith in democracy. We kept fighting and we won the trust of people…we never abused the courts, the ECI or questioned the democratic set up,” Rijiju said.
Pointing out that the BJP followed due processes, such as approaching court or petitioning the ECI, Rijiju trained his guns at Gandhi for maligning India’s image abroad. “He goes abroad and abuses the country and its democratic system. He abuses the institutions…instead of going to the people, he travels abroad… he will lose elections,” Rijiju said.
Rejecting the Congress’s accusation of discrepancies in the voting process, the Union minister questioned how the Congress had won elections in a bunch of states, including Telangana, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh while the opposition parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party won in Punjab. “How did opposition parties win in Tamil Nadu and Kerala? We have never questioned that… Why is he (Gandhi) provoking Gen Z? Our people, particularly the youth, are very sensible and they are with Prime Minister Narendra Modi because while the world is going through an economic slowdown, India is the fastest growing economy at 7% GDP growth,” he said.
Accusing Gandhi of “conspiring with anti national entities”, Rijiju said, “Instead of blaming Rahul Gandhi for the losses that the Congress faces, they are blaming the ECI.”
“He will come once in a blue moon, wave his hand and then he’ll vanish again. He knows he’s not made to toil. He’s not a person who can live with the people..He has conceded for a long time that the Congress will not win elections and they will keep crying and abusing the system itself. It’s a very defeatist mentality which he carries and he is displaying it blatantly before the media,” Rijiju added.
