Rahul is 'badshah of vote theft', he should apologise for 'baseless charges': Maharashtra BJP

Mumbai, Sep 18 (PTI) The Maharashtra BJP on Thursday dubbed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the "badshah" or king of "vote theft", and said he should apologise to the people of India for repeatedly levelling "unfounded allegations" about the poll process.

State BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye alleged that Gandhi has developed a habit of making unsubstantiated claims.

One has to fight a legal battle within the framework of the Constitution instead of just levelling allegations, he said.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi on Thursday, Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting "vote chors" and people who have destroyed democracy, and cited data from a Karnataka assembly constituency to claim that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted ahead of elections.

The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said his revelations today were another milestone in demonstrating to the youth of this country how elections are being rigged.

Referring to the Congress leader's allegations, Upadhye told reporters, "Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the people of India for repeatedly levelling unfounded allegations. In fact, he himself is the 'badshah of vote theft' in the country." "What I am going to say is proven in the court. The incident happened in Karnataka yesterday in the same state where Congress is in power. The Karnataka High Court set aside the election result of the Malur assembly segment, where polls were held in 2023. The case was pursued by the BJP candidate, and we won. Nothing can be proven just by allegations. You have to fight a legal battle within the framework of the Constitution," he said.

Congress' Malur constituency candidate K Y Nanjegowda had polled 50,955 votes against BJP nominee K S Manjunath Gowda, who secured 50,707 votes, winning by a margin of just 248 votes.

Upadhye also claimed that in Maharashtra, several people had mentioned former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan's residence in Karad as their address to obtain voter ID cards.

"Rahul Gandhi is opposing the Election Commission's special initiative - special intensive revision (SIR). It is time to undertake a similar drive to find out where the Congress leaders have misused the procedure," he said.

He also said, "I want to know whether Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray will ask Rahul Gandhi about the conduct of the leaders of his party (Congress) in Maharashtra," Upadhye said. PTI ND NP