Sambit Patra in Kashi
Varanasi: Escalating the BJP ’s counterattack on Rahul Gandhi ’s allegations against the Election Commission , party spokesperson Sambit Patra on Monday accused the Congress leader of misleading the nation with claims of the deletion of 13 crore votes. Patra said the BJP had won three Lok Sabha elections in 2014, 2019 and 2024 before Gyanendra Kumar became chief election commissioner on Feb 19, 2025. Referring to Rahul’s allegations against the Election Commission, he said the Congress lost 56 assembly elections between 2014 and 2025, and Rahul should explain those defeats instead of attacking constitutional institutions. He cited the 2014 Lok Sabha election, saying V S Sampath was the CEC then and had been appointed during Congress rule in 2012. Patra also said the Congress has been out of power for decades in several states, including Tamil Nadu for 59 years, West Bengal for 49 years, Uttar Pradesh for 37 years, Bihar for 36 years, Tripura for 33 years and Odisha for 26 years. Defending the SIR, Patra said it had been conducted 12 times in the country, 10 times under Congress govts and twice under BJP govts. Rahul Gandhi was combining different categories to falsely allege the theft of 13 crore votes, he added. He said around three crore people were marked absent, six crore applied through Form-6 for inclusion, and notices were issued to six crore shifted voters. Patra also said 2.37 crore young voters aged 18 to 28 had been added since June 2025.
He said these defeats were due to the Congress’s political failures, not voter-list revision.
Citing the Congress’s record of repeated electoral defeats, Patra said the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls was a constitutional exercise aimed at updating voter lists, not the “vote theft” being alleged by the opposition. A day after Gandhi’s mega show at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, Patra said the Congress has made it a habit to blame either EVMs or the EC after every electoral defeat. He said names are removed on four grounds, including absent, shifted, deceased and duplicate voters. Targeting former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Patra said only Indian citizens have the right to vote and infiltrators cannot be allowed into voter lists.
“Did Congress appoint him to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister? Patra asked, adding that institutions should not be targeted for political convenience. He challenged Congress and Samajwadi Party booth agents to identify errors instead of making allegations.