Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, saying that he cannot win the Lok Sabha elections without EVMs and blamed him for using central agencies like ED and CBI.
“Without EVM, Narendra Modi cannot win elections. We requested election commission, show us the EVM machine and show us the machine to our experts they refused to show us,” Rahul Gandhi said at rally in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park.
Rahul further stated, “There is one power. We are fighting against that power. Raja ki aatma EVM mein hai. It is in ED and CBI. Many top leaders from Maharashtra have left Congress party and they cry and call my mother. Sonia ji I am ashamed, I cannot fight them and cannot go in jail. There are many such people who are threatened. Just like this Shiv Sena and NCP people went away. They all went because they were threatened.”
The Opposition, led by the Congress-led INDIA alliance, held a massive rally in Mumbai.
Among the attendees are Tamil Nadu’s CM MK Stalin, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, RJD leader and former Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Jharkhand CM Champai Soren, and former CM Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren.
Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin also said there is no bigger threat to India than the BJP. “The real victory of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra stands in defeating BJP and capturing Delhi,” he said.
RJD leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, commended Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and highlighted that the rally aimed to convey a message to ‘save India’s Constitution, brotherhood and to defeat hatred’.
“….He (Rahul Gandhi) has tried to deliver a message which is quite significant in today’s days…To save India’s Constitution, brotherhood and to defeat hatred, he commenced the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ and for that my heartfelt thanks to Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party,” Tejashwi Yadav said.
Missing from the event was the Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former UP chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, a member of the INDIA bloc alliance, who said that he could not attend the rally and issued a statement explaining his absence.
“The Election Commission has announced the nomination dates in UP from 20th March, due to which I will not be able to attend the concluding program of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra,” Akhilesh Yadav said in a statement.
The mega rally by the INDIA bloc comes just a day after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This announcement also coincided with Rahul Gandhi’s conclusion of his 6,700-kilometer Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Mumbai.
The yatra, which began on January 14 from Manipur, covered 16 states and 110 districts. Rahul Gandhi concluded his 63-day journey by paying homage to Dr. BR Ambedkar at Chaityabhoomi in Dadar and reciting the Preamble of the Constitution.
On Saturday, the ECI also announced that The general elections will take place in seven phases, starting from April 19 and ending on June 1. The counting of votes will be held on June 4. Additionally, four states – Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim – will hold simultaneous Assembly elections.
In Maharashtra, Lok Sabha polls will be conducted in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20, with vote counting on June 4.