‘Ready for special session on vote chori, but they want drama’: Shah challenges Rahul, Akhilesh

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday offered to call a special session of Parliament to debate the Opposition’s vote theft allegations. Addressing BJP workers in Lucknow, he accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav of avoiding a parliamentary discussion.

“I am ready to call a special session of Parliament to discuss vote chori (vote theft allegations). But Rahul baba will never agree. He will never discuss the issue in Parliament but will create a nuisance on the street,” Shah said.

He made the remarks at a daylong meeting of the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh working committee.

Challenge to Opposition leaders

Shah rejected the allegations against the Election Commission and challenged the two leaders to present their arguments in Parliament.

“I challenge Rahul (Gandhi) and Akhilesh (Yadav) to discuss every allegation inside Parliament. The allegations against the Election Commission are baseless. But they don’t want a discussion; they want drama on the streets,” he said. His comments came as the Opposition prepared to intensify its campaign against the poll body.

Protests planned in Delhi

The INDIA bloc plans to hold a “public impeachment” of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday. It has also planned a protest at Delhi’s Ramlila ground on Sunday against what it calls the “demolition of democracy”.

The bloc had scheduled the “public impeachment” at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence on Friday. Unseasonal rain forced it to postpone the event. Opposition parties have targeted Kumar over the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. They allege that the Election Commission designed the exercise to benefit the BJP. Shah dismissed their accusations.

Shah targets electoral record

The home minister also compared the BJP’s electoral performance with that of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party. He accused Gandhi and Yadav of failing to secure victories independently and then questioning the institution responsible for conducting elections.

“You have not won a single election on your own. The same is true for Rahul baba,” Shah said.

He linked their allegations of electoral wrongdoing to their defeats and used a cricket analogy to attack them.

“After losing the match, they are blaming the umpire and alleging vote theft,” he said.