Congress attempting to weaken Democratic System, charges Jagadish Shettar

By making false allegations against Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, Congress is attempting to weaken the democratic system, said MP for Belagavi and BJP leader Jagadish Shettar, here on Thursday.“The Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, have no substantive issues to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. Therefore, they are attempting to undermine the democratic system by alleging vote theft,” he told reporters.“Whenever the BJP wins an election, they claim vote theft has occurred and cast doubts on the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). But when the BJP loses, they claim the election was transparent. What kind of an argument is this?” he said.“Allegations of vote theft and attempts to portray the ECI in a poor light are intended to embarrass the Union government. However, Mr. Gandhi and other leaders have failed to provide any evidence to substantiate their claims. Senior BJP leaders have proved that these are false allegations, but the Congress leaders are yet to apologise for their statements,” Mr. Shettar said.“The protest held in New Delhi proved that the allegations made by Mr. Gandhi do not enjoy the support of all the constituent parties of the Congress-led ‘INDIA’ alliance. If there is evidence of vote theft, I suggest that the Congress file a complaint in court,” Mr. Shettar said.“The SIR is aimed at cleaning the electoral rolls by removing names of fake, deceased, and duplicate voters. But Mr. Gandhi does not seem to understand this. He is using this as a pretext to target the ECI by levelling false allegations of ‘vote theft’,” the BJP leader said.Mr. Shettar also alleged that Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar had insulted Veerashaiva Lingayat community and its seers. “Mr. Shivakumar is intoxicated by power. Power has gone to his head. That is why he is making arrogant remarks and revealing his true colours. At a recent conference of seers, the Chief Minister made insulting remarks against the community and its seers,” Mr. Shettar said.He should retract them and seek an unconditional apology, Mr. Shettar, a Lingayat leader, said.“The State government’s administration has gone off track. But no one is bothered about it. Civil contractors are saying the State government owes them ₹38,000 crore in outstanding bills. Congress MLAs are openly expressing dissatisfaction regarding the lack of funds and the Chief Minister’s style of functioning; they are even threatening the government with resignation. This is a sad state of affairs,” the BJP leader said. Published - October 01, 2026 07:25 pm IST