Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the BJP, alleging that a significant number of its Lok Sabha MPs won their seats through “vote chori” and questioning the legitimacy of their mandate.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha claimed that “every sixth BJP MP” secured victory through electoral manipulation, raising a provocative question about whether such leaders should be labelled using the BJP’s own terminology.
"Through vote theft, sometimes individual seats are stolen, and at other times, an entire government. Of the 240 BJP MPs in the Lok Sabha, roughly every sixth MP secured seat through vote chori," Rahul said in a post in Hindi on X.
Escalating his criticism, Rahul added, "They are not hard to identify - should we, in the BJP's own parlance, label them 'ghuspethiya'? And what of Haryana? There, the entire government itself is an 'ghuspethiya'. The very institutions they keep in their pockets - the ones they manipulate to distort voter lists and the electoral process - are themselves 'remote-controlled'."
He further asserted that the BJP’s electoral strength would significantly weaken if elections were conducted fairly. "Their real fear is the truth. For if fair elections were to be held, they would not be able to win even 140 seats today," he said.
A day earlier, Rahul had also criticised the BJP’s recent electoral victories in West Bengal and Assam, calling them a “theft” of the public mandate and warning of broader implications for democracy.
"Some in the Congress, and others, are gloating about TMC's loss.They need to understand this clearly - the theft of Assam and Bengal's mandate is a big step forward by the BJP in its mission to destroy Indian democracy," he said in another post on X.
Urging political unity beyond party lines, he added, "Put petty politics aside. This is not about one party or another. This is about India."
The BJP recently unseated the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and retained power in Assam for a third consecutive term, according to results announced earlier this week.