Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], April 21 (ANI): With Congress leader Rahul Gandhi again raising the allegation of the Election Commission being ‘compromised,’ while speaking to Indian diaspora in US, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ramchander Rao on Monday slammed such remarks, claiming that the issue has been brought up because the party is “jealous of losing elections.”
“Rahul Gandhi, after losing almost every election in the state and also in the parliament, who once upon a time, the Congress party held over 400 seats, and now has only 90, and for the first time, they got only 40. Now they have tried to blame the Election Commission for this. EC is a Constitutional body, a statutory body so therefore, bringing up the issue and calling it fraud is objectionable,” Rao told ANI in Hyderabad.
Saying that EC was respected even during Congress-led governments, he pointed out that the party also lost with ballot papers and shifted its focus on blaming EC.
“Even during Congress, EC was there and everyone respected them, but because the Congress party is losing every election now, they have blamed EVMS, when they lost in even ballot papers, then they are now blaming the Election Commission. This is not a proper thing in a democracy to criticise the EC, it is only that they are jealous that they are losing elections,” he said.
Rao also criticised Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, claiming that the BJP considers the Congress as the enemy and that the Gandhi family will not ‘bow down,’ in a reference to Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi being named as accused in the National Herald case.
“Statement by Mallikarjun Kharge in Bihar during the election campaign that the BJP is seeing the Congress party and its leaders as the enemy is a highly objectionable statement. The BJP had never treated any political party, whether in power or in opposition, as an enemy. Political rivalry is always there, and in a democracy, it should be there,” he said.
Accusing Kharge of interfering in the investigative agency’s process, he added, “Now, when these things come up in the public domain, is it not the responsibility of the government that they should file a case and investigate it properly? Ultimately, whatever is decided is the court’s duty, but prima facie, there is an allegation, and an investigative agency also has evidence on that. Therefore, Mallikarjun Kharge’s statement is nothing but interference with the investigation agency’s process and also in the legal process.”
The remarks of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi were made while he was on a visit to the United States, while he addressed the Indian diaspora in Boston.
Gandhi had alleged that the Election Commission (EC) in India was “compromised”, further stating that there was something very wrong with the system.
Citing the example of the Maharashtra elections, the Senior Congress leader stated that there was an addition of 65 lakh voters to the voter list in two hours, which was impossible.
“More people voted in Maharashtra than the total number of people in Maharashtra, and this is a fact… the Election Commission gave us a figure in the evening around 5:30 p.m., and in two hours around 7:30 p.m., 65 lakh voters had voted, which is physically impossible…” he claimed, addressing the meeting.
Meanwhile, Kharge had made the remarks in Bihar’s Buxar, addressing the ‘Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan’ rally. Kharge also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the promise to provide a Rs 1.25 lakh crore package to Bihar had not been fulfilled. (ANI)
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