"If they lose, they blame EVMs": BJP leaders turn on Congress over Delhi march

Senior BJP leaders lined up on Monday to accuse the Congress of attacking the country’s institutions, as opposition parties marched in Delhi towards the Supreme Court over the revision of electoral rolls and demanded the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation.

The sharpest words came from Uttar Pradesh, which votes early next year. Speaking in Gorakhpur, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the Congress was disrupting daily life in the capital and questioning bodies such as the Election Commission only when results went against it.

“They are inconveniencing the common public by creating anarchy,” he said. “It is surprising that if they win elections, it is their capability. But if they lose, they blame EVMs, EC.”

He told the Congress to “change their corrupt conduct and their distrustful leadership” and warned: “People will not accept this anarchy, they will not tolerate this for long.” He also reminded his audience that the Congress has not returned to power in Uttar Pradesh since 1985.

“Hawa-hawai” leader

At a press conference in New Delhi, BJP MP Anurag Thakur aimed at Rahul Gandhi directly. “Rahul Gandhi is a ‘hawa-hawai’ leader, everything is zero, just empty talk,” he said. “After losing 99 elections, it has become his habit to blame the Election Commission and the government.” He said the Congress should bring evidence rather than accusations, and that Gandhi had offered none when he met President Droupadi Murmu with an opposition delegation.

At the party headquarters, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the Congress had lost its ideological direction, had become a junior partner in all but a handful of states, and was trying to return to power by discrediting institutions rather than winning votes.

Chief Ministers join in

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took up the Chief Justice’s refusal to meet the bloc’s leaders. “Where does the Constitution state that the Chief Justice of India has to meet a protest march?” he asked in Mumbai, calling the march “a conspiracy to demonise India’s judicial institutions and erode public trust”.

Constitutional institutions cannot be made answerable to a party’s electoral frustrations. The people’s mandate deserves respect. Our institutions deserve independence.

Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said the opposition was “unnecessarily making a big noise about SIR”.

The opposition’s reply

Opposition leaders on the march stood their ground. “It is about dismantling the entire democratic framework,” said Punjab Congress president Pargat Singh, repeating the charge that two Election Commissioners had objected to decisions taken without their consent. Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge asked: “Where is Gyanesh Kumar hiding?”

Police stopped the march short of the Supreme Court on Monday evening, and the bloc filed its petition against the Election Commission. The court is due to hear petitions linked to the Delhi protests on Tuesday.