Resign First, Contest Elections On Ballot Paper, BJP Dares Rahul Gandhi As Congress Doubts EVMs

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party has dared Rahul Gandhi to resign as Member of Parliament (MP) and challenged him to contest elections only on ballot paper as Congress continues to doubt the electoral process, especially the use of EVMs, after it faced a historic defeat in recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly elections.

The BJP hit back at the Congress for questioning the electoral process, including EVM's integrity, saying its chief ministers and other elected representatives like Rahul Gandhi should first resign and announce that they will contest only after ballot papers are brought back.

Such a stand will underscore their trust in the issues being raised by them, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia told reporters, adding that their allegations will otherwise be nothing but empty words.

The Congress should move the courts over the issue too, he said, while stressing that the Supreme Court has quite a few times endorsed the transparency of the electoral process and the integrity of Electoral Voting Machines.

Congress chief ministers, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should resign as they were elected through the same electoral process the opposition party is questioning, Bhatia said. It was ironic that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge questioned EVMs on a day Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took oath as a Lok Sabha MP, he said.

The Congress will soon be confined to the pages of history books, he said.

Sharad Pawar also doubts EVMs but says he has no proof

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) Chief Sharad Pawar alleged that there are discrepancies in votes of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMS) in Maharashtra Assembly elections but they do not have any proof in this regard.

"This has happened for the first time, the elections held in the country have made people very restless, there is disappointment among the people...Every day at 11:00 am, the opposition leaders raise questions in the Parliament. They put forward their point but their demands are not being accepted in the Parliament and this clearly means that Parliamentary democracy is not being followed properly. If it continues like this, then it is not right and for this, we will have to go among the people and make them aware," Sharad Pawar told reporters on Pune.