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‘I lost 2019 Lok Sabha election because…’: Mallikarjun Kharge's big charge as he targets PM Modi
After winning 11 consecutive elections, Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge had suffered a massive defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha poll.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday alleged that he had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections because of "bogus votes".
Addressing the Congress's ‘Vote Adhikar Rally’ in Bengaluru's Freedom Park, Mallikarjun Kharge launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging “vote theft”.
“The current government is a government of theft. Modi is making this country cry with bogus votes. I had said this in 2019. In my entire life, I lost in the 2019 elections, I also lost because of bogus votes, which has now come to light,” news agency ANI quoted Kharge as saying.
After winning 11 consecutive elections (nine assembly and two Lok Sabha elections), the Congress veteran had suffered a massive defeat in the 2019 general polls. He was beaten on his home turf by his loyal follower-turned-rival Umesh Jadhav, BJP candidate, by a margin of 95,452 votes. It was his first electoral defeat in 47 years of his political journey since 1972.
Backing Rahul Gandhi's “vote theft” claim in Mahadevapura in Bengaluru Central, the Congress chief alleged that the Election Commission of India works at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.
"In the elections held in Bengaluru, a legislative assembly has verified 6,60,000 votes. The last election was a betrayal election. Modi's attempt is that even if people do not vote, Modi and Amit Shah order the Election Commission to decide where to vote less and where to vote more. Modi has already intimidated the Congress and other parties and gained a majority," Kharge added.
He said that the BJP won the Maharashtra and Karnataka Assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections illegitimately.
"Earlier in Maharashtra and in Karnataka, he has continued the same trick. Modi and company did not win the 2024 elections," he claimed.
The Congress veteran added that the INDIA bloc MPs will march to the Election Commission's office in Delhi on August 11.
"This government will not survive, we will make you shunned by the people. Not just to bring them down, we will teach them a lesson; they are ruining our country with bad economic policies. On Monday, all the MPs will walk to the Election Commission and appeal to the Commission in Delhi. We have called a meeting of the INDIA alliance leaders. We should all be united; otherwise, PM Modi would have come to power like this," Kharge further said.
