Cong must answer questions over ballot papers after alleging EVM tampering: Telangana BJP chief

Hyderabad: Telangana BJP President N. Ramchander Rao on Thursday said the Congress, which had repeatedly raised questions over Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), must now answer questions about ballot papers after failing to win a single seat in the recent Legislative Council elections.

Speaking to IANS, Rao said, “The Congress party, which had been crying about EVMs, must now answer questions about ballot papers... It has lost in Karnataka, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The Congress claimed that EVMs were being tampered with, but what answer does it have regarding ballot papers?”

“Does it now want ballot papers to be removed as well? The Congress has been exposed, and its claims about EVM tampering and vote theft are completely false. These allegations are baseless. Therefore, Congress should now keep quiet and stop trying to create an atmosphere of anarchy in the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP on Wednesday won 13 of the 28 Legislative Council seats that went to the polls across four states, while the Congress secured one seat. The Samajwadi Party (SP) made gains in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, while the Jan Suraaj Party opened its account in Bihar's Upper House.

All the seats contested in this round of Legislative Council elections belonged to graduate or teacher constituencies. Polling was held on October 23 using ballot papers, but the counting process extended over nearly two days and was marked by confusion, allegations and protests.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took a swipe at the Congress over the results. In a post on X on Wednesday, he said, “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?”

In Uttar Pradesh, where 11 seats were contested across Varanasi, Lucknow, Jhansi, Agra, Gorakhpur, Meerut, Bareilly, Moradabad and Faizabad, the BJP retained its tally of six seats. The SP, its principal challenger, won five seats, increasing its tally by two.

In Karnataka, the Congress failed to win any seats, while the Janata Dal (Secular) wrested the Bengaluru teacher constituency from the ruling party. The BJP retained all three seats it contested, winning the North-East teacher, South-East graduate and West graduate constituencies by defeating Congress candidates.

In Bihar, where eight seats went to the polls, the BJP won three, the Janata Dal (United) secured one, the Rashtriya Janata Dal won one, the Jan Suraaj Party bagged one, and independents secured two seats.

In Maharashtra, the ruling Mahayuti alliance won two of the five seats contested, while the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won three. The constituencies covered several districts, including Nagpur, Pune, Amravati, Kolhapur and Sangli.

In a closely contested result in Nagpur, Congress candidate and sitting MLC Abhijit Wanjari defeated BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale in Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's home district.

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