New Delhi [India], August 13 : Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday took a veiled dig at Union Home Minister Amit Shah after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy emerged victorious in the recently concluded Constitution Club of India (CCI) elections, saying that the "so-called Chanakya" was bound to lose when the polls were conducted through secret ballot.
Highlighting the "lesson" to learn from the CCI elections, Sibal posted on X, "When the election is by secret ballot, the so-called Chanakya will lose hands down. In Bihar, if the election is fair, Chanakya will again lose."
Rudy retained his position as Secretary (Administration) of the Constitution Club of India, despite facing 25 years of anti-incumbency, and defeated his fellow party member, Sanjeev Balyan, who received only 290 votes.
Amid celebrations, BJP MP Rajeev Pratap Rudy credited his panel for his win, and said, "I may have won by more than 100 votes. And if that is multiplied by 1000 voters, the number goes up to 1 lakh. This is my panel's victory. Everyone rose from their party and cast their vote. My panel had people from the Congress, SP, TMC and independent MPs. I got the result of my efforts in the last two decades."
This comes as BJP MP Nishikant Dubey was hoping for a change in the secretary position, visibly rooting for Balyan to win the constitution club elections.
Nishikant Dubey told reporters earlier, "I think there will be a change and Dr Sanjeev Balyan will be the new secretary...Rajiv Pratap Rudy is my old friend."
Among the 11-member body, the numbers indicate that the opposition appears to be dominating the Constitution Club elections, with most positions being taken over by the INDIA bloc members. In this election, prominent leaders from the Congress and other INDIA bloc parties were part of Rudy's panel against Sanjeev Balyan.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Tiruchi Siva has been elected as cultural secretary unopposed, followed by Congress's Rajeev Shukla as sports secretary, and Jithender Reddy of Congress has been elected unopposed as treasurer.
Moreover, Congress MP Deeinder Singh Hooda and Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Akshay Yadav have also secured positions in the governing council of the Constitution Club, alongside BJP's Naveen Jindal and Pradeep Gandhi.
It is to be noted that Rudy had the backing of Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) MP NK Premachandran, who also emerged victorious in the elections.
The Constitution Club elections witnessed top leadership from both ruling and opposition parties cast their votes.
On one hand, Union Ministers Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Piyush Goyal cast their vote. On the other hand, Congress's top leadership, including Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, were also seen casting their vote.
However, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju had earlier termed the Constitution Club of India elections as non-political, stating that there is no place for "party-baazi" in the club.