Puri targets Oppn, claims 35 of its MPs voted for NDA candidate in VP poll despite use of paper ballots

New Delhi, Sep 10 (PTI) BJP leader and Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday took aim at the Opposition, saying it is unable to explain that how despite the use of paper ballots "nearly 35 of their MPs" voted for the NDA candidate in the vice presidential election.

Citing the victory of BJP-led NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan by a bigger-than-expected margin, Puri said the Opposition's modus operandi is about "whipping up hysteria based on their fake data" after losing elections due to their "incompetence and past linkages with corruption and scams".

The Congress and some of its allies have often cast doubts on electronic voting machines (EVMs) and demanded return to paper ballots in elections.

The vice presidential poll was held using paper ballots, and the victory margin suggests that quite a few opposition MPs might not have backed their official nominee B Sudershan Reddy.

"One day they are proponents of paper ballot, on another when they lose an election based on paper ballot they are not able to explain how despite a paper ballot, nearly 35 of their MPs voted for the NDA candidate in the vice-president election," Puri said.

The Opposition, the Union minister alleged, has mastered the art of shoot and scoot politics. Their allegations are based on false data and always come crumbling down at the first scrutiny, he claimed.

He said on X, "Every point they have raised about an imaginary ‘vote chori’ and electoral data has turned out to be a figment of their imagination. The data they have been quoting has turned out to be wrong." Driven by an inexplicable desire to run down India and its robust democratic system, politicians of a particular thinking and ideology, including those deeply influenced by the "Balak Buddhi", eschew logic, resort to utter falsehoods, and cast doubts about India’s electoral system, he said using a mocking reference the BJP has used for Rahul Gandhi.

He claimed that the Congress' lie on new voter addition in Maharashtra was exposed where more voters were added in 2004 and 2009 when the UPA won than in 2024.

He said, "Or, look at Wayanad which had 93,499 doubtful voters including 20,438 duplicate voters, or Rae Bareli with a whopping 2,00,089 doubtful voters including 19,512 duplicate voters or 71,977 with fake addresses." PTI KR KVK KVK