Karnataka BJP aims to turn the tables on Congress, lashes out over 'vote theft' amid Siddaramaiah's remark on 1991 polls

The row erupted following Siddaramaiah's statement that he once sued a victorious Congress candidate for electoral fraud. The BJP, picked up on the CM's remark and called out his participation in his party’s Vote Adhikar Rally in Bihar.

Bengaluru: State BJP and the Leader of Opposition R Ashoka on Friday launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Congress party over allegations of 'vote theft'.

The row erupted following Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's statement that he once sued a victorious Congress candidate for electoral fraud. The BJP, picked up on the CM's remark and called out his participation in his party’s Vote Adhikar Rally in Bihar.

In 1991, Siddaramaiah, then with the Janata Dal, lost to Congress’ Basavaraj Patil Anwari by 11,197 votes from the Koppal Lok Sabha seat. Speaking at an event on Thursday, Siddaramaiah said he roped in jurist Ravivarma Kumar to file a case against the election result.

Ashoka, seizing on this statement, took to X, questioning who was responsible for cheating Siddaramaiah in 1991. Ashoka accused the Congress party of engaging in vote theft to ensure Siddaramaiah’s defeat. By admitting his loss was caused by cheating, Siddaramaiah, Ashoka argued, inadvertently exposed the Congress party’s history of vote theft.

Ashoka further referenced a former minister, Rajanna, who had previously spoken about vote theft but was removed from the cabinet on Rahul Gandhi’s orders. He challenged whether Rahul Gandhi had the courage to remove Siddaramaiah from his post as Chief Minister or from the Congress party, or if disciplinary actions were only reserved for Dalit leaders.

Opposition Leader also recalled the 2018 Assembly elections, citing former Union Minister C M Ibrahim’s revelation that Siddaramaiah won the Badami seat through vote-buying. He noted that during Congress’s dominant period from Panchayat to Parliament, elections were conducted without Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), with Home Minister G. Parameshwara admitting that Congress workers “used to sit and press votes here and there.”

He also labelled the Congress party and the Nehru-Gandhi family as the "patriarchs of vote theft and electoral fraud," dismissing Rahul Gandhi’s claims on vote theft as insincere and hypocritical.

Adding to the controversy, the Karnataka BJP posted on X, highlighting Siddaramaiah’s 1991 defeat by Congress’s Basavaraj Patil Anwari and his own admission that it resulted from “vote theft”. The BJP questioned Siddaramaiah’s credibility, asking how he could now join Rahul Gandhi’s #VoteAdhikarYatra in Bihar, accusing him of hypocrisy. The post charged Siddaramaiah with forgetting his past and abandoning self-respect by aligning with Congress’s “false narrative of vote theft”.

The BJP bluntly asked Siddaramaiah why he participated in what they called a “false propaganda” campaign, pointing out that while Siddaramaiah once fought Congress’s alleged vote theft in court, he now lacks the courage to urge Rahul Gandhi to seek legal justice instead of staging street protests.