New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched a veiled assault on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that ‘Modi face’ is behind the rigging in Chandigarh Mayoral polls. He termed the manipulation of ballot outcomes and ‘BJP’s conspiracy to homicide democracy’. Rahul claimed that the returning officer Anil Masih was only a ‘pawn’ within the rip-off and {that a} ‘Modi face’ was pulling the strings from behind. Taking to Twitter (previously X), Gandhi stated, “Masih is just a ‘pawn’ in the BJP’s conspiracy to murder democracy, behind which is the ‘face’ of Modi.”
The Congress social gathering welcomed the Supreme Court resolution on the “farcical election” for the mayor’s put up in Chandigarh and stated it has rescued democracy from the clutches of an “autocratic BJP” that indulged in soiled election manipulation.
लोकतंत्र की हत्या की भाजपाई साजिश में मसीह सिर्फ ‘मोहरा’ है, पीछे मोदी का ‘चेहरा’ है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 20, 2024
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge stated the “institutional sabotage” within the Chandigarh mayoral ballot is barely the “tip of the iceberg in Modi-Shah’s sinister plot to trample democracy”. “All Indians must fight this assault on our Constitution, collectively. Never forget. Our democracy shall be at the crossroads in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” he stated in a put up on X.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi excessive courtroom’s verdict, saying, “Masih (the returning officer for the poll) is just a ‘pawn’ in the BJP’s conspiracy to murder democracy, behind which is the ‘face’ of Modi.” Congress normal secretary Ok C Venugopal stated the apex courtroom’s resolution on the “farcical election” for the mayor’s put up in Chandigarh will go a protracted option to save Indian democracy.
“The entire election process was a complete sham, which has been duly exposed with this historic verdict,” Venugopal stated in a put up on X. “For 4 months, now we have been repeatedly in search of time from the Election Commission to debate the difficulty of full VVPAT counting, however it has not discovered any time for us thus far. “We hope the ECI moves swiftly and takes steps that will improve the people’s faith in the democratic process – not dent it,” he added on the microblogging platform.
The Supreme Court stated on Tuesday that it will direct a recounting of the votes polled within the controversial Chandigarh mayoral election and declaration of the end result after contemplating eight defaced ballots declared invalid by the returning officer. The courtroom additionally ordered the prosecution of returning officer Anil Masih for “misdemeanour”.
The courtroom overturned the results of the ballot, during which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate had emerged as an unlikely winner, and declared AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the brand new mayor of Chandigarh.
It additionally ordered the prosecution of Masih, a BJP chief, for his “misdemeanour”, after discovering critical faults within the conduct of the January 30 election.
The apex courtroom made it clear that it was not quashing the whole electoral train and proscribing itself to coping with the wrong-doings within the counting course of, which led to the invalidation of eight votes forged in Kumar’s favour.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud stated it was evident that Masih had made deliberate makes an attempt to deface the eight poll papers.
The BJP gained the ballot, defeating the comfortably-placed AAP-Congress alliance candidate, after the returning officer declared the eight votes of the coalition companions invalid, drawing accusations of tampering with ballots.
Manoj Sonkar of the BJP defeated Kumar after polling 16 votes towards his rival’s 12. Sonkar, nonetheless, resigned subsequently, whereas three AAP councillors defect
