Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge did not soften his stand on ballot papers on Thursday, even after a set of results that had gone badly for his party. Asked about the Legislative Council elections, he turned the question around and put it to the BJP.
If the ruling party was so confident of its support, Kharge said in Bengaluru, it should dissolve Parliament and face fresh elections on ballot papers. The challenge came a day before the INDIA bloc’s symbolic public impeachment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi, and two days before a planned opposition rally on November 1.
What Kharge said in Bengaluru
Kharge said protests against alleged vote chori, or vote theft, and against the Chief Election Commissioner would go on across the country. He accused Kumar of mischief inside the Election Commission, a charge the opposition has repeated through the row over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The Congress alleges large scale deletion and exclusion of voters, especially voters from minority communities and economically and socially weaker sections. The Election Commission has rejected the vote theft allegations.
“Protests will continue against the vote chori and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. What he has done is mischief in the Commission. All parties are supporting the protest,” Kharge told reporters.
He said the campaign would continue with a mock Parliament on Friday and the rally around November 1. “We will fight, because in democracy, unless you fight, people will not be awakened,” he said.
Asked about the Karnataka results, in which the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) won all four Legislative Council seats despite voting by ballot paper, Kharge said the Congress would keep demanding ballot papers for future polls. “It does not mean that we should leave (our demand) because they (BJP) are winning (MLC polls). Once upon a time, they won only two Parliament seats (when elections were held using ballot papers),” he said.
He cautioned the BJP against growing complacent. “Sometimes it happens (when the BJP wins ballot paper-based elections). It does not mean that the party (BJP) has no hold (on Election Commission),” he said. “Okay, if that is the case, let them dissolve the Parliament and go (for elections) on ballot paper.”
Why the council results stung
Voting for 28 Legislative Council seats across Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh took place on October 23. These are graduates and teachers constituencies, and voting is by ballot paper, not electronic voting machines. That is what made the results so awkward for the Congress demand.
In Karnataka, where the Congress is in power, the BJP-led alliance swept all four seats. The JD(S) won the Bengaluru Teachers constituency, while the BJP retained the North-East Teachers, South-East Graduates and West Graduates seats. Across the four states, the early counting left the Congress with nothing. The party contested 12 seats and, in the first reports, had won none.
That changed only in the small hours of Thursday, when Abhijit Wanjari held the Nagpur Division Graduates seat in Maharashtra by 3,271 votes, polling 67,231 votes against 63,960 for BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale after second preference counting. It was the Congress party’s only win from the 28 seats, in the home turf of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, both of whom had campaigned for Kohale.
In Bihar, the BJP won three of eight seats. In Uttar Pradesh, it won six of the first nine seats declared, with the Samajwadi Party taking three.
The BJP hit back fast
Prime Minister Narendra Modi moved first, with a short post on X. “MLC elections in 28 seats across 4 big states. Elections held using ballot papers. Guess how many seats Congress won?” he wrote.
BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi took the same point further in Delhi. He said the Congress had remained at zero in the results declared till then, despite voting through ballot papers, and argued that the party could not win public support under any voting system. Union minister Shobha Karandlaje said the BJP would win with ballot papers or EVMs. The Nagpur count itself turned tense, with BJP and Congress workers clashing outside the counting centre before police intervened.
What happens next
Kharge’s challenge does not change the voting system, and the BJP has shown no interest in an early general election on paper ballots. Dissolving Parliament is a decision for the government, not the opposition. For the Congress, the value of the challenge is political: it keeps the ballot paper demand alive after results that seemed to weaken it.
For the BJP, the same results support the opposite argument, that the Congress problem is votes, not voting systems. The next test comes quickly, with the public impeachment proceedings in Delhi on Friday, October 30, at Kharge’s residence, and the Ramlila Maidan rally on November 1.
FAQs
What did Kharge challenge the BJP to do?
He challenged the BJP to dissolve Parliament and face fresh elections using ballot papers, if it was confident of its support.
How did the Congress do in the MLC elections?
It won one of 28 seats, the Nagpur Division Graduates seat, held by Abhijit Wanjari by 3,271 votes.
What does the Congress allege about electoral rolls?
It alleges large scale deletion of voters, especially minorities and weaker sections, during the Special Intensive Revision, and calls it vote theft. The Election Commission rejects the allegations.
What is planned next?
A symbolic public impeachment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi on October 30, and a rally at Ramlila Maidan on November 1.
Informeia will follow the October 30 proceedings and the November 1 rally as they happen.
