Kolkata, Nov 3 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Smriti Irani on Tuesday said that the Congress had lost 56 elections from 2014 to 2025 before the current SIR exercise, alleging that the poll defeats stemmed from its own leadership failures.
Addressing a press conference here, the former Union minister accused the opposition INDIA bloc led by the grand old party of undermining constitutional institutions by questioning the Election Commission’s integrity over the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The BJP national general secretary, who was in the city to participate in the party’s ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy’ campaign, also accused the Opposition of seeking foreign assistance to discredit India and unseat the Narendra Modi government.
“Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar goes to Pakistan and makes comments against the country. Rahul Gandhi goes to London and says he wants to defeat Modi… Is it right for the leader of the opposition to make such remarks from foreign soil?” she said.
Irani’s remarks came amid an intensifying political confrontation over the SIR exercise, with the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and other opposition parties accusing the EC of facilitating “vote theft” and demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The BJP has sought to counter the Opposition’s campaign by portraying SIR as a necessary exercise to remove duplicate entries and the names of deceased persons from electoral rolls.
Questioning the Congress’s objections, Irani said, “If there are duplicate names or deceased individuals in the electoral rolls, why does the Congress want the names of deceased people restored? Why does it want duplicate entries to remain?”
She also cited the 10 special intensive revisions conducted during the Congress governments, questioning the party’s opposition to the present exercise.
“The Congress has been losing elections since 2014. Gyanesh Kumar was not even the chief election commissioner then,” she asked.
Irani alleged that the Congress was attacking the EC and the Supreme Court instead of introspecting on its electoral defeats.
“The Congress has declared a war against the country. It is not sparing the EC or the Supreme Court,” she alleged, blaming the party’s condition on “corrupt and failed leadership”.
She also questioned the Congress’s ability to fight elections independently, alleging that Rahul Gandhi had to bring together several parties to organise protests against the EC. PTI PNT ACD
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