After 'vote chori', BJP now engaged in power theft: Mallikarjun Kharge

New Delhi: Accusing the BJP of handing over people's right to form or remove governments to agencies like ED and CBI, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday claimed that the ruling party is now engaged in “stealing power” after indulging in “vote theft”, as he raised objections over the new Bills that seek removal of top political executive after arrests.

Addressing the newly-appointed District Congress Committee Presidents of Madhya Pradesh and Haryana here, he said the three Bills, including one to amend the Constitution for removal of Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and state and central ministers if they remain in custody for 30 days in a row in serious offences are like "running a bulldozer over democracy".

He said the government introduced The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill last Wednesday despite it not having the required two-third majority in Parliament to pass a bill to amend the Constitution.

“After vote theft, the BJP is now engaged in power theft...This law snatches away the citizens’ right to form or remove their chosen government and hands that power to agencies like ED and CBI. It is like running a bulldozer over democracy. Through this bill, the BJP can topple opposition governments within 30 days and destabilize democracy by weaponising arrests,” he said.

He said 193 opposition leaders were facing ED cases but there has been conviction only in two cases. Chief Ministers and Ministers were arrested and kept in jail for months, but now the agencies itself say it has no evidence, he alleged.

Kharge claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes big claims about fighting corruption but he has inducted the same leaders who he had once called corrupt into his party and government.

Referring to the scrapping of electoral bonds, he said no investigation has taken place on it and nobody knows who gave money to PM CARES and in what matter.

“No inquiry has happened into this scam. Lakhs of crores of rupees owed by defaulting industrialists have been written off, the government shows them favor. Defaulters took loans of people’s hard-earned money kept in banks and fled the country. The Modi government doesn’t even blink an eye,” he alleged.

On the Special Intensive Revision, he said the Prime Minister is talking about weeding out infiltrators through the exercise but he is misleading.

He warned the Congress leaders that the BJP would "continue using programmes like SIR to cut our votes" but their biggest responsibility is to remain vigilant for all 5 years.

“You must keep conducting intensive checks of voter lists so that if BJP workers or BLOs try to delete the names of our supporters, we can catch them immediately,” he said.