'Levelling false allegations Rahul Gandhi's habit', Haryana CM Saini trashes 'vote chori' charge

Chandigarh, Sep 20 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Saturday lashed out at Rahul Gandhi over his vote theft allegations, saying the Congress leader has a “habit” of levelling false accusations and then running away. Saini also attacked him for pointing fingers at the Election Commission of India.

Sharpening his attack on the issue of “vote chori”, Gandhi on Thursday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those who “destroyed democracy”.

To buttress his allegation, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha cited data from two Assembly constituencies in Karnataka and Maharashtra, where he claimed voters were deleted/added in a “fraudulent” manner.

The Election Commission dubbed the allegations “incorrect and baseless”, and said, “No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Gandhi.” Speaking to the media here, Saini said the Congress sometimes blames EVMs and sometimes alleges democracy is in danger.

“Sometimes they (Congress) allege 'vote chori'. Rahul Gandhi saab, do you have any issue? You raise fingers at EVMs, so how were your MPs and MLAs elected? You cannot mislead the country this way,” Saini said.

Accusing the Congress leader of levelling false allegations against the ECI, the chief minister said, “He (Gandhi) comes before the public to make allegations. He calls them 'hydrogen bomb’. But it was more like ‘khoda pahad, nikla chuha’.” He also lambasted Gandhi for consistently raising fingers at the constitutional body in order to “weaken” it.

“Rahul Gandhi and the Congress point fingers at others to hide their sins. They do not have the right to do so. Look at yourself first,” Saini said.

“Gandhi has a habit of making accusations and running away. It is not the first time that it has happened. Speaking lies is in his DNA,” he added.

Saini also accused Gandhi of making baseless allegations to protect “infiltrators and urban Naxals”.

“In the 2023 Karnataka elections, it was the Congress candidate who won from Aland (the seat Gandhi referred to). If votes were stolen, how did the Congress win? Why are you (Gandhi) misleading the country? Congress does not have any issue.

“Rahul Gandhi is putting his own MLA (from Aland) in trouble. He (the MLA) could have won because of his image,” Saini said. Gandhi had cited details of alleged attempts to delete 6,018 votes in Karnataka's Aland constituency in the run up to 2023 assembly polls.

Further training guns on Gandhi, Saini said the Congress leader recently said saving democracy was his job. “Rather, Rahul and Congress' agenda is to oppose BJP's policies and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resolve of 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047,” Saini said.

Taking on Haryana Congress, the chief minister said it has not been able to elect its leader of opposition in the Assembly though it has been a year since elections took place in the state.

“Three Assembly sessions have taken place without the LoP. They (Congress) do not have a 'dulha' (groom),” Saini said. PTI CHS ARI