NEW DELHI, Oct. 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress over its failure to win a single seat in Legislative Council elections across four states, highlighting that the polls were conducted using ballot papers rather than electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The Congress contested 12 of the 28 seats in the Legislative Council by-elections held in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka but failed to secure any. Four of the seats it contested had previously been held by the party.
Modi used the results to question the Congress's repeated demands for a return to paper ballots, an issue that has become a point of disagreement between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition parties.
In a post on X, the Prime Minister wrote:
"MLC elections in 28 seats across 4 big states - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka. Elections held using ballot papers. Guess how many seats Congress won? 🧐"
View this post on X
The post drew attention to the Congress's electoral performance while making an indirect reference to its criticism of EVMs and the conduct of elections.
The result was particularly disappointing for the Congress in Karnataka, where it heads the state government but failed to win any of the Legislative Council seats it contested.
BJP general secretary Smriti Irani also criticised the Congress, arguing that the results undermined its allegations concerning electronic voting machines and electoral irregularities.
In a post on X, Irani said the Congress had failed to win a seat even in elections conducted through ballot papers. She accused the opposition party of repeatedly questioning electoral processes after defeats and urged its leadership to reassess its political performance.
The results varied across the four states. In Karnataka, the Congress contested all four seats but lost each one, including a constituency it had previously held. The Janata Dal (Secular) and its NDA allies secured the seats.
In Bihar, the Congress fielded candidates in five of eight constituencies after seat-sharing negotiations with the Rashtriya Janata Dal failed. It won none. One notable result came from the Darbhanga Teachers' constituency, where Prashant Kishor's party secured a victory.
In Maharashtra, the Congress contested three of the five seats and lost all three, including two it had previously held. The Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Sharad Pawar won both seats it contested, while Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena also failed to secure a victory.
The Congress did not field candidates in any of the 11 Legislative Council constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. Its failure to win a seat across the four states therefore reflects losses in the 12 constituencies it contested, rather than defeats in all 28.
The political exchange comes amid a continuing dispute over the use of EVMs and the Election Commission's handling of electoral processes.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had renewed the opposition's demand for ballot-paper voting during an INDIA bloc meeting in September.
Kharge argued that questions surrounding electronic voting machines, electoral roll revisions and alleged voter-list irregularities had weakened public confidence in the electoral system.
He also referred to allegations raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi concerning electoral records in several constituencies, including Mahadevpura and Aland in Karnataka, and areas of Haryana and Maharashtra.
Those allegations remain disputed and are separate from the results of the Legislative Council elections.
The Congress has maintained that returning to ballot papers would help restore confidence in elections, while the BJP has rejected allegations that electronic voting machines are responsible for opposition defeats.
Modi's latest remarks seek to draw attention to the Congress's performance in an election where EVMs were not used.
However, the results of ballot-paper elections do not, by themselves, establish whether concerns raised about EVMs or electoral roll management in other elections are valid. Those questions require examination of the specific evidence and procedures involved.
Legislative Council elections also differ from Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Depending on the constituency, members may be elected by legislators, local authorities, graduates or teachers rather than through universal adult voting.
The latest results nevertheless represent an electoral setback for the Congress, particularly in Karnataka, where the party holds power, and Maharashtra, where it failed to retain two previously held constituencies.
For the BJP, the outcome has provided an opportunity to challenge the Congress's political argument for replacing EVMs with ballot papers.
The exchange illustrates how electoral procedures have become a recurring point of confrontation between the ruling party and the opposition, with the latest Legislative Council results adding another dimension to the debate.
