Insulting people’s mandate is an old habit of Congress: BJP

Shivraj Singh Chouhan. File | Photo credit: The Hindu

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday (October 3, 2026) said that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah “illegal” as an insult to constitutional institutions and the mandate of the people.

“Democracy in the country stands firmly on the foundation of the constitution given by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and the people will again and again give a democratic response to such false and baseless statements,” Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in a statement.

Mr. Chouhan claimed, “Mr. Kharge’s statement, made at the behest of Leader of the Opposition (in the Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi, reflects the frustration and mindset of the Congress after the electoral defeats.”

Stating that the Congress chief’s remarks were yet another example of the party’s “long practice of attacking constitutional institutions”, he said, “Whenever the people of the country reject the Congress in an election, a conspiracy begins to discredit democracy, the Election Commission, EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) and the mandate of the people.”

“Does democracy, according to the Congress party, become legitimate only when the Gandhi family or the Congress party is in power?” he asked.

Mr. Chouhan said the Congress did not challenge EVMs when it won elections in Karnataka, Telangana or Himachal Pradesh.

Referring to Mr. Modi’s electoral record, he said the people elected him as Chief Minister for three consecutive terms and subsequently gave him a third consecutive term as Prime Minister, thus proving their confidence in him.

The Union minister also accused Mr. Kharge of misleading the public about the appointment of election commissioners. “The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023 was passed by both Houses of Parliament in a completely democratic, constitutional and transparent manner,” he said.

“The Leader of the Opposition has become an integral part of the selection committee, thereby securing the opposition’s voice,” he said.

“The Congress party may have forgotten its own history. For decades, Congress governments appointed election commissioners arbitrarily, without any law or transparent selection board, only on the basis of a note from the Prime Minister’s office, and later rewarded them with ministerial posts and parliamentary membership,” he said.

Regarding the revision of electoral rolls, he said that removal of false and duplicate entries and addition of eligible voters is a continuous and statutory process of the Election Commission, adding that the Commission receives complaints and objections in a transparent manner as per the prescribed rules.

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the reliability and honesty of EVMs. Despite this, the Congress wants to take the country back to the era of booth raiding, ballot box looting and paper ballot violence in the 1980s and 1990s,” he said.

Published – 3 Oct 2026 22:41 IST