'Commit to ballot paper': Congress dares PM Modi after his 'how many seats' swipe over MLC results

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress over its dismal performance in the MLC polls held across four states. The grand old party which failed to win a single seat in the polls, hit back at PM Modi over his “ballot paper” remark and challenged him to commit to holding all future Lok Sabha and assembly elections using ballot papers.The back-and-forth began when the Prime Minister in a post on X, 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?"Congress Rajya Sabha member Pawan Khera hit back at PM Modi, asking him to demonstrate confidence in the BJP’s prowess by committing to ballot paper voting in all future Lok Sabha and assembly elections.In a post on X, Khera demanded the suspension of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the restoration of 13.3 crore voters "deleted illegally"."If Narendra Modi is so confident that EVMs have no bearing on election results, let him prove his confidence in the BJP’s electoral prowess through action, not rhetoric," he wrote."1. Commit to conducting all Lok Sabha and upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections by ballot paper going forward. 2. Suspend SIR and restore the 13.3 crore voters illegally deleted from the electoral rolls. 3. Terminate Gyanesh Gupta. 4. Repeal the law that gives life long immunity to Gyanesh Gupta," Khera wrote.BJP national president Nitin Nabin also took a dig at the grand old party, saying the party would continue to struggle for survival under Rahul Gandhi's leadership. Addressing a gathering during the BJP's ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao’ march in Delhi, Nabin said PM Narendra Modi would return to the Red Fort after the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.Nabin also accused the Congress of opposing the cleaning of electoral rolls because it was distressed by efforts to remove alleged infiltrators.“There are voters who have died but whose names remain on the electoral rolls. There are also people whose names appear in the voter lists at two places. There are crores of such voters whose names are registered more than once, while the whereabouts of many others cannot be traced. This is what is called a ‘ghost voter list’,” he said.The remark came after the Congress drew a blank in Karnataka, where the BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance swept all four legislative council seats despite the Congress being in power in the state. The results also saw the Congress lose its sitting Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency to the JD(S).The prime minister's reference to ballot papers comes amid the opposition's repeated allegations of irregularities in electronic voting machines (EVMs) and demands for greater transparency in the electoral process.The Congress suffered its biggest setback in Karnataka, where the BJP retained three seats and the JD(S) wrested Bengaluru Teachers’ from the ruling party.JD(S) candidate A P Ranganath defeated sitting Congress MLC Puttanna by 908 votes, securing 10,810 votes against his rival's 9,902.The BJP retained the North-East Teachers’, South-East Graduates’ and West Graduates’ constituencies. The results came despite campaigning by chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar and other senior Congress leaders.In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won four of the 11 legislative council seats, while the Samajwadi Party secured two, with counting continuing in some constituencies.Bihar saw setbacks for both the Congress and the BJP. Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party opened its account in the state Legislative Council after candidate Suresh Prasad Rai defeated sitting Congress MLC Madan Mohan Jha by 324 votes in the Darbhanga Teachers’ constituency.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.