Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Mallesh Babu on Sunday criticised Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge over his allegations of “vote chori”, saying that his saying that the BJP or NDA government has come with vote chori is not correct.
“Mallikarjun Kharge is a senior-most leader. I think he has been in politics for more than 50 years. His saying that the BJP or NDA government has come with vote chori is not correct… There have been many instances where even Congress and opposition parties have won. Does that mean wherever the NDA wins, there is vote chori, and wherever the opposition wins, there is no vote chori? This is very bad on the part of opposition leaders, especially such a senior leader who is making these kinds of statements…,” he said.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, launching a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, accused the central government of undermining the autonomy of the Election Commission to facilitate “vote chori” (theft of votes) and announced that he and Rahul Gandhi will meet the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Monday.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Kharge stated that both leaders have formally written to the CJI seeking an appointment between 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM to apprise the judiciary of the current state of democracy in the country.
“Tomorrow, we are also going to meet the Chief Justice of India. I have written a letter, and Rahul ji has also written a letter. We have set a time between 4:00 and 5:00 PM. We will apprise him of the circumstances. We cannot demand anything from him; only with folded hands will we submit our request,” he said.
Launching a fierce attack on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, Kharge accused him of stifling fellow election commissioners, preventing the poll panel from taking independent decisions.
“The CEC is a constitutional body. They are independent. They can take independent decisions. But he is not allowing them to take independent decisions. The two CEC members have openly exposed the commission – how the commission is acting, how irregularities are going, and how the members felt – but they have not taken any action on that either,” Kharge alleged.