Karnataka: Siddaramaiah echoes Rahul Gandhi's comments, says BJP engineered Cong setback in LS polls
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Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said he was currently discussing with Rahul Gandhi and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on the electoral malpractice during the Lok Sabha polls last year and they would decide the future course of action. 'We are committed to defending the integrity of our democracy.'The results of the recent Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka have not only shocked us but also raised several serious concerns. It is now becoming increasingly evident that the Congress Party's setback was not due to public opinion but rather due to the illegal manipulation of the electoral process, a manipulation carried out by the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ) through its misuse of the Election Commission, the statement said.Rahul Gandhi, he added, had been relentlessly exposing the misconduct of the Election Commission, revealing one irregularity after another. He has specifically pointed out the election-related fraud that took place in Karnataka.The CM said he fully supported Gandhi's statement that there was clear and undeniable evidence of electoral malpractice in Karnataka. 'In several constituencies across the state, our party workers reported sudden and suspicious additions of new voters, while names of long-time voters were removed without justification.'It is now increasingly clear that Narendra Modi's election victories are not a result of his popularity or the so-called achievements of the BJP government. What's coming to light is the harsh truth that these victories were driven by systematic voter fraud, orchestrated through the Election Commission itself, the statement added.
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