Bengaluru, Aug 8 Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi arrived at HAL Airport in Bengaluru on Friday to take part in the protest at Freedom Park over the alleged election fraud.
Karnataka State Congress President and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, along with AICC General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, welcomed him at the airport. Party's national President Mallikarjun Kharge also arrived with Rahul Gandhi.
In light of the protest, tight security arrangements have been made around the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Bengaluru.
The Chief Electoral Officer’s office is located approximately 80 feet from Freedom Park, the venue of the protest.
The police department, taking no chances with the large gathering and the significance of the protest, has deployed additional forces both at the premises and in front of the State Election Commission office to maintain law and order and ensure public safety.
The Chief Electoral Officer has granted him an appointment between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sources said the Congress delegation, comprising national and state leaders -- possibly with or without Rahul Gandhi -- is expected to meet the officer between 1.30 p.m. and 2 p.m.
State Minister for Cooperation K.N. Rajanna stated, "Rahul Gandhi has made statements backed by documents. He is speaking with authority, and we must endorse his statements -- there is no doubt about it. The BJP is well aware of the malpractices. The RSS, the frontal organisation of the BJP, is manipulating everything."
“The common people are with us. In the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency, voters have been enrolled without proper addresses. How is that even possible? During the parliamentary election, our government was in power -- we should have been more alert. Instead, we are alert only now. Had we acted earlier, we could have prevented these malpractices," Minister Rajanna said.
"Out of the eight Assembly segments in the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat, we had leads in seven. In only one -- Mahadevapura -- we did not. That single loss tilted the overall result. Isn’t that clearly due to malpractice?" he questioned.
Responding to the allegations, BJP state President and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra said, "In the Mahadevapura Assembly segment, the BJP had the highest lead in the last Lok Sabha election. This constituency has always been a BJP stronghold. It has 6.5 lakh voters, the highest in Karnataka. Rahul Gandhi is questioning the voters' list, but he should also examine what happened in Chamarajpet -- represented by Minister Zameer Ahmad Khan, and Shivajinagar -- represented by Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad, where the minority population is the highest."
"We are aware that a large number of fake voters have been added in these segments. My question to Rahul Gandhi is: the objective of the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is to identify such discrepancies. Why, then, are Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party opposing it in Bihar? Why are they coming to Karnataka and creating this drama?" Vijayendra questioned.
"The BJP won 25 out of 28 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka. In 2024, the NDA won only 19 seats. Rahul Gandhi could have made these allegations earlier. The truth is, he has failed to gain the confidence of the people of this country and is desperate to become the Prime Minister. He has been rejected by the voters of Karnataka and across India. In that context, he is now targeting the Election Commission," Vijayendra said.
"They are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They must be joking. Instead of making baseless demands, they should focus on winning the people's confidence. They can’t blame Narendra Modi ji’s leadership -- he is leading the nation toward development, which is why he has been elected for a third consecutive term. There is no reason for the BJP to protest against the Congress on this issue. Let’s hear what Rahul Gandhi says in Bengaluru -- based on that, we will decide our course of action," he concluded.
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