Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Oct 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress over its performance in the recently held Legislative Council elections across four states, pointing out that the party failed to win seats despite the use of ballot papers.
The Congress has drawn a blank in three states and remained out of the reckoning in Maharashtra, where counting was reportedly underway for five seats.
In a post on social media platform X, Modi said, “MLC elections in 28 seats across 4 big states - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka.”
“Elections held using ballot papers. Guess how many seats Congress won?” the Prime Minister remarked.
His comments come amid the Opposition's demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The MLC election results assume significance as the INDIA bloc prepares to hold a major rally against alleged vote theft at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on November 1. The proposed rally has drawn strong protests from the ruling NDA, traders and members of the Sikh community, who have raised objections to the date in view of its association with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also said the Congress had “failed to make an impact” in the Legislative Council elections across the four states despite the use of ballot papers. The party also accused Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi of making “false allegations” about the country's electoral process.
Addressing a press conference, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said the results had undermined the Congress's claims about electoral irregularities.
“Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party, who have created a storm of false claims about India’s electoral process, have seen their aspirations for anarchy shattered by the results of the MLC elections...the Congress party has so far remained at zero. It is now almost clear that the Congress party has failed to make its presence felt in these elections,” Trivedi said.
He added, “These elections were conducted using ballot boxes and ballot papers, yet the Congress failed to establish its presence.”
Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi also criticised the Congress over its performance in the polls.
“Whether it is ballot paper or the Electronic Voting Machines, the outcome for the Congress party remains the same,” Joshi said, taking a dig at the party's performance.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party (SP) won the Agra Teachers' constituency in Uttar Pradesh, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) secured victory in the Patna Teachers' constituency in the biennial elections to the Bihar Legislative Council.