BJP slams Rahul over SIR, accuses Opposition parties of maligning institutions

“Despite this, the Congress and its allies, frustrated by their repeated electoral defeats, remain determined to undermine constitutional propriety in an attempt to conceal their failures. From North to South and East to West, this misinformation aimed at weakening the country’s democratic framework and creating anarchy is being strongly countered across the nation,” the party said in a statement.

Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath, Devendra Fadnavis, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Bhajan Lal Sharma, Bhupendra Patel, Nayab Singh Saini, Vishnu Deo Sai, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Rekha Gupta, Samrat Choudhary, Mohan Yadav and Suvendu Adhikari hit out at the Congress. In States where the BJP is not in power, the party’s State presidents or Leader of the Opposition addressed press conferences.

Mr. Fadnavis accused Mr. Gandhi of seeking to discredit institutions under the guise of defending the Constitution and deliberately creating confusion and chaos by repeatedly questioning constitutional bodies. “There has been no vote theft; Rahul Gandhi’s mind has been stolen,” he said.

Alleging that the Opposition parties had created confusion over the SIR, Mr. Adityanath sought an apology from the Congress and its allies.

Mr. Sarma described the Opposition as an “alliance of defeated people”, while Mr. Yadav alleged that Mr. Gandhi was spreading falsehoods after failing to manage his party.

Mr. Sai said that “frustrated after losing more than 100 elections”, the Congress had now “resorted to anti-national conduct”. The press note by the Election Commissioners had exposed its “lies”, he said.

Ms. Gupta demanded an apology, accusing the Opposition of “creating this baseless controversy to divert attention from its failures, its betrayal of the country and the development works being undertaken”.

Mr. Patel slammed the Congress’s “double standards” and said that when the Congress won elections, it hailed the outcome as a victory of democracy, but would make baseless claims of vote theft and electoral malpractice after a loss.

Mr. Choudhary said the “purification” of the voter list was necessary because “booth capturing” no longer took place in the country. Mr. Adhikari said the Congress supported SIR in Kerala because it won there but opposed it in West Bengal after losing the election. He said judicial officers were dealing with names rejected due to logical discrepancies, adding that the Opposition was misleading the public.