Rahul's attack on EC over 'poll irregularities' is arrogance of the defeated, says Shelar

Mumbai, Aug 7 (PTI) Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Thursday targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his fresh attack on the Election Commission of India and dubbed it "arrogance of the defeated".

Addressing a news conference, Shelar said when the Election Commission declared final electoral rolls ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, neither Gandhi, the Congress party nor the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi raised concerns about alleged irregularities in them.

He said the EC only received 3,900 objections at that time, of which just 98 went into appeal.

The BJP Mumbai president said even the Booth Level Agents (BLAs) are authorised to check the rolls, adding the Congress party has over 27,000 BLAs but no one raised an objection in the electoral rolls.

Gandhi on Thursday cited an analysis of data from a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka from the 2024 elections to make explosive claims of "huge criminal fraud" in polls perpetrated by the BJP through the EC, and asserted that this was a "crime" against the Constitution.

"This is arrogance of the defeated," Shelar said.

"The defeat (of the MVA in assembly polls) is a jolt to them and an insult of voters," Shelar added.

He said Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, raised objection over the rise in the voting percentage in the 2024 assembly polls.

But the Lok Sabha polls also saw 8.05 per cent increase in the overall voting vi-a-vis the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Shelar pointed out.

He said after the intial hours, every passing hour has recorded over one crore voting while the last hour saw voting by 60-70 lakh voters.

Shelar said if the votes increased, that was not restricted to one constituency.

Asserting votes also increased in Bhiwandi east, Mumbra-Kalwa, predominantly Muslim dominated constituencies. Shelar asked if the MVA was going to deny the defeat in these constituencies. PTI PR BNM