New Delhi [India], August 7 : BJP MP Sambit Patra launched a scathing attack on Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of "selective outrage" over his recent allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Reacting to Rahul Gandhi's allegation that elections are "choreographed", Patra said,"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...This is the peak of Rahul Gandhi's frustration."
He contrasted Rahul Gandhi's approach with the BJP's conduct during its time in opposition, asserting, "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."
Patra also condemned Rahul Gandhi's remarks, suggesting that officials of the ECI would face action if the opposition came to power.
"Rahul Gandhi said that if there is no reply to my press conference, then there will be serious consequences...He said that if the opposition comes to power in the future, then they will take action against each official of the Election Commission of India. Is this a language of LoP?... This is a language of election rage," Patra said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka wrote a letter to Gandhi asking him to sign an affidavit detailing his allegations made on the addition and deletion of electors.
"It is understood that during a Press Conference held today, you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the Electoral Rolls cited at Para 3. You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed Declaration/Oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated..." the letter stated.
Earlier, presenting the party's research on voting in the Mahadevpura Assembly in Karnataka, Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00 250 votes.
Rahul Gandhi said that Congress won other seats while Mahadevapura was swept by the BJP.
"Elections are choreographed... Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We chose one Lok Sabha, and our team decided we could only focus on one Vidhan Sabha (seat). So we focused on Mahadevapur. Here is the broad math. All data is 2024 data from the Election Commission. Total votes polled in the Lok Sabha were 6.26 lakhs. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. But then we look at Mahadevapura, where Congress polls 1,15,586 and BJP polls 2,29,632. Congress wins all Vidhan Sabhas but this one. This seat wins them the election," he alleged.
"We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, on a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house," Rahul Gandhi alleged.
"Invalid photos...Then the misuse of Form 6. Form 6 allows new people to become voters," he added.
Rahul Gandhi said that anti-incumbency hit every party but the BJP, which was seen in the Haryana and Madhya Pradesh polls. He said, "Anti-incumbency hits every single party in every democracy, but for some reason, the BJP is the only party that does not suffer from anti-incumbency in a democracy. Exit polls and opinion polls say one thing, but you saw in the Haryana and MP elections, and suddenly the results go in another direction with a massive swing. This also included our internal polling, which is sophisticated."
Flagging polling in multiple phases, he added, "There was a time in India with no EVMs; people voted on one day. Now, UP has a different voting day, and Bihar has some other day. Voting goes on for a month. This made us suspicious. Suddenly, the dates of the Haryana and Karnataka elections were changed."