Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla has strongly rebuked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent claims of electoral rigging, asserting that Gandhi is laying the groundwork to excuse an anticipated loss in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
Poonawalla, speaking to ANI on Sunday, said, “After the kind of comments made by Rahul Gandhi and his party about the Indian Army, it’s clear they will lose the Bihar elections.” He accused the Congress of resorting to excuses in advance, saying, “Now that they see defeat coming, they are busy finding scapegoats.”
The BJP spokesperson also took issue with Gandhi’s criticism of the Election Commission, alleging that the Congress scion believes his “family system” stands above India’s constitutional framework. “The Election Commission has answered all their questions with facts. But Rahul Gandhi behaves as if his dynasty is superior to constitutional authorities,” he said.
Poonawalla went on to say, “Those whose family legacy involves undermining constitutional institutions have no right to accuse others of ‘match fixing’.”
His comments came in response to Rahul Gandhi’s post on X (formerly Twitter), where the Congress leader accused the BJP of rigging the Maharashtra Assembly elections held in November 2024. Gandhi alleged that a five-step process had been used to manipulate the democratic process and warned that similar tactics would be repeated in Bihar.
In his article, Gandhi described the “rigging” as:
- Manipulating the panel that appoints the Election Commission,
- Adding fake voters to rolls,
- Inflating voter turnout,
- Targeting bogus votes where BJP needs to win, and
- Concealing the evidence.
Calling this process “match-fixing,” Gandhi warned that such practices erode public trust and harm democratic institutions.
The war of words between the BJP and Congress continues to escalate as Bihar prepares for its high-stakes assembly election later this year.