Rahul raising questions on poll process as Cong's support base declining steadily: BJP

New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) The BJP slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday over his "vote theft" charge, calling him the "leader of propaganda" and alleging that he has been raising questions on the country's election process as his party's support base is declining steadily.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, the party's national spokesperson, Shehzad Poonawalla, flayed Gandhi for his remarks on India's election system in a recent interview to a foreign newspaper and said the Indian National Congress (INC) should now change its name to "Anti-National Congress (ANC)".

"In an interview with the Financial Times, Rahul Gandhi said, 'we are playing the game of mass mobilisation. That is the only way we have'," Poonawalla said, reading out excerpts from the Congress leader's interview.

"Rahul Gandhi told the newspaper that his party's strategy is to challenge the integrity of India's electoral system by building public pressure," he said.

"This is a confession and self-detonation by Rahul Gandhi," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said, alleging that the "anti-India Congress" wants to create "suspicion" on the integrity of the country's poll process by running misleading propaganda because Gandhi does not have proof to substantiate his allegations.

He also said the name of the CWC (Congress Working Committee), which met at Patna on Wednesday, should be changed to BVC (Bharat Virodhi Committee).

On Gandhi asking Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar when would he provide evidence to the Karnataka CID on "deletion" of votes in the Aland constituency, Poonawalla accused the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha of making baseless allegations.

The chief electoral officer (CEO) of Karnataka has already clarified that all the available information has been provided to the state police, he said.

"Rahul Gandhi, you should clarify that when at 11 am you said 6,018 votes were deleted, why did you tweet later, around 5 pm, that had these votes been deleted, this would have been a big issue? First explain whether votes were deleted or not," the BJP leader said.

Gandhi claimed on Wednesday that the EC has put a lock on "vote theft" only after he raised the matter and asked the CEC when would he provide evidence to the Karnataka CID on "deletion" of votes in Aland.

The former Congress chief was referring to media reports that the EC has rolled out a new "e-sign" feature that requires Aadhaar-based verification for addition or deletion of votes.

"Gyanesh ji, we caught the theft and only then did you remember to put a lock -- now we'll catch the thieves too. So tell us, when are you going to give the evidence to CID?" Gandhi asked in a post on X. PTI PK RC