BJP hits back at Rahul Gandhi over vote theft claim

The BJP on Friday attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with a “khandani chor” barb, accusing him of misleading people by discrediting the Maharashtra civic poll process while the counting of votes was underway.

This came in response to Rahul Gandhi asserting that “vote chori is an anti-national act” and accusing the Election Commission of “gaslighting” citizens amid a row over the quality of ‘indelible’ ink used in marker pens during the Maharashtra civic polls held on Thursday.

Reacting to his remarks, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla, in a social media post, said, “Bahana (excuse) brigade back! Accepting defeat before counting ends?” “Rahul Back to doing what he does best — discredit, distort and disinform. ‘Khandani chor’ now regurgitating claims of Thackerays,” he charged.

Poonawalla also sought to know what came out of Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ allegations on the Bihar elections.

Another BJP national spokesperson, Pradeep Bhandari, said, “Every season the ‘parivarvadi’, to escape scrutiny, come up with one or the other allegation, which turns out damp squib in the court of law and the court of public opinion.” “The anti-national party, which gets backing from Pakistan, is searching for a scapegoat after looking at imminent defeat in the BMC elections,” Bhandari said on social media.

The BJP has on various occasions slammed Rahul Gandhi for his vote theft allegation, terming it “baseless” and an attempt to “hide his failures”.

It has also asked Rahul Gandhi and other leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc why they did not file any petition in court or on other platforms challenging the Bihar poll results.