Cong chief Mallikarjun Kharge alleges electoral fraud led to his 2019 LS poll defeat
Bengaluru, Aug 8 (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday claimed that his 2019 Lok Sabha election defeat from Gulbarga constituency was the result of "electoral fraud".
The veteran leader said he has never faced defeat in his long political career, except in 2019.
He was addressing people during the ‘Vote Adhikar Rally’ here, where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy D K Shivakumar and several others were present.
Kharge also claimed that he was a victim of election rigging.
“I have won over 12 elections in my life except the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which I lost for the first time in my life due to the election fraud,” the Congress chief said.
He alleged that the BJP engaged in "bogus voting", securing up to 20,000 votes in each of the five assembly segments under the Gulbarga Lok Sabha seats in 2019 Parliamentary election.
Kharge accused the BJP of using the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and the Income Tax department to "intimidate" opponents and gain power.
Citing the example of Karnataka, he claimed that the BJP toppled the then ruling coalition government by inducing defection of many MLAs, despite not having a clear majority.
“The same thing happened in Goa, Maharashtra and also in Manipur. They (BJP) never won any election, but they paid people and purchased the government,” the Congress leader said.
According to Kharge, "Modi and company" did not have a legitimate victory in the 2024 LS poll. Their win was achieved by "stealth".
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
