Election Commission must respond to SIR irregularity allegations, says Ram Madhav
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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice-president V. Ram Madhav releasing the book titled Jaateeya Bhavam Karuvaina Communistlu in Vijayawada on Friday. Vaddi Vijayasarathi of Jagriti, BJP Andhra Pradesh president P.V.N. Madhav, Rajya Sabha member Paka Satyanarayana and the book’s editor Duggaraju Srinivas are seen. | Photo Credit: K.V.S. Giri
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice-president V. Ram Madhav said on Friday that the Election Commission of India (ECI) would have to respond to allegations of large-scale irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He also indicated that Narendra Modi would remain the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, saying that Mr. Modi would win two or three more elections.
Addressing a memorial lecture, ‘Ism Nee Payanam Etu’, after releasing the book Jaateeya Bhavam Karuvaina Communistlu here, Mr. Ram Madhav said the Congress and other Opposition parties should decide whether their victories in Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana were achieved because of “crumbs” from the BJP. He said the Opposition should not contest elections if it genuinely believed that the electoral system was rigged.
In an apparent reference to Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders Abhijit Dipke and others, Mr. Ram Madhav said some young leaders were emerging but lacked political maturity. He said they were advising Opposition parties to stay away from what they described as “fixed matches” and “rigged elections”, while claiming that the Opposition had secured small, isolated victories with the BJP’s support.
“Is it so?” he asked the Opposition parties.
Mr. Ram Madhav also criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and questioned how he had concluded that the ECI was helping the BJP win elections. If that were the case, he said, the ECI constituted by the Congress before 2014 was in place when elections were held in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Responding to criticism of Mr. Modi’s electoral victories, he said that if the Prime Minister had won three elections without popular support, it was pertinent to recall that Jawaharlal Nehru had also won three elections. Mr. Modi would win more elections because of his commitment and dedication to uplifting the last person in society, or Antyodaya, he said.
Mr. Ram Madhav said the concept of Antyodaya, articulated by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya to ensure that the benefits of development reached the last person in society, was reflected in the welfare programmes of the Narendra Modi government.
Vaddi Vijayasarathi of Jagriti, an RSS magazine, BJP Andhra Pradesh president P.V.N. Madhav, Rajya Sabha member Paka Satyanarayana and the book’s editor, Duggaraju Srinivas, were present. Dr. Vijayasarathi and Mr. Srinivas also spoke.
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