Rahul’s ‘match fixing’ jibe: BJP says he failed to garner public support
BJP accuses Rahul of attacking democratic institutions to pre-empt his party's defeat in the upcoming elections
Rahul Gandhi’s opinion piece published in a national English daily, alleging that the outcome of the last Assembly elections in Maharashtra was manipulated, has drawn severe backlash from the ruling BJP, which has accused him of attacking democratic institutions to undermine people's trust in the electoral process to pre-empt his party's defeat in the upcoming elections.
The attack comes in the wake of Rahul's opinion piece in the Indian Express wherein he listed five steps through which the results of the last Maharashtra Assembly polls were allegedly rigged.
‘Imminent defeat in Bihar’
Alleging that Rahul has failed to earn the people’s trust, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari accused the Congress leader of resorting to attacking democratic institutions under a well-planned conspiracy, as he knows that his party is set to suffer defeat in the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls.
"Rahul Gandhi knows he's losing Bihar and, like always, he's resorted to a well-planned conspiracy: attacking democratic institutions to pre-empt his defeat," the BJP spokesperson wrote on X, reacting to the Congress leader's charge.
"Unable to win the trust of the people, he is now trying to undermine the trust of the people in the electoral process itself," he alleged, adding, "Rahul Gandhi is anti-democracy.
Also read: BJP calls Rahul Gandhi 'traitor' after his 'EC compromised' remark in US
‘Rahul’s goal is chaos’
Lashing out at Rahul, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya accused the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha of deliberately making repeated attempts to sow seeds of doubt and dissension in the minds of the voters about the poll process.
"It is not that Rahul Gandhi doesn't understand how the electoral process works. He does very well. But his goal is not clarity; it is chaos. His repeated attempts to sow seeds of doubt and dissension in the minds of voters about our institutional processes are deliberate," Malviya wrote on X.
He pointed out that whichever election Congress wins, they hail it as "fair and just" but if they lose they start questioning the democratic process.
"But when they lose — from Haryana to Maharashtra — the whining and conspiracy theories begin, without fail," he said, adding, "This is straight out of George Soros' playbook — systematically erode people's faith in their own institutions, so they can be cracked open from within for political gains".
"India's democracy is strong. Its institutions are resilient. And the Indian voter is wise. No amount of manipulation will change that," Malviya asserted.
Also read: Election Commission defends EVMs amid Tulsi Gabbard’s tampering remarks
‘Inconsistent and scripted’ claims
Rubbishing Rahul’s charge Bhandari termed the increase in the number of voters in Maharashtra a regular administrative trend, not a conspiracy.
Rahul was "peddling a lie" to question a normal democratic process, he alleged.
He termed Rahul's claims as "inconsistent and scripted", pointing out that the Congress leader on January 19 claimed one core fake voters were added, then he changed the figure to 70 lakh on February 3 and brought it down to 39 lakh on February 7.
"Not even 1 per cent of Congress candidates formally raised complaints using Form 17C — the legal way to challenge EVM data. If the Congress party truly believed the results were rigged, why didn't its candidates approach the District Magistrate with Form 17C data?" Bhandari asked, adding his reply,"because this isn't about evidence, it's about narrative warfare".
(With agency inputs)