'Maharashtra, Haryana elections were a fraud': Mallikarjun Kharge bats for return to polls through ballot papers

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. (File photo: PTI)

Making a strong pitch for a return to elections being held through ballot papers, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday questioned the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and claimed that the BJP won the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana through "fraud".

In his address at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session held on the banks of the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad, Kharge launched a scathing attack against the BJP-led government at the Centre and accused the government of systematically "dismantling democratic institutions" and "selling off" national assets to benefit few crony capitalists.

This is the first AICC session being held in Gujarat in 64 years with the last one held at Bhavnagar in 1961.

"The whole world is moving from EVMs to ballot paper but we are using EVMs. This is all fraud. You have devised such techniques that benefit the ruling party and the Opposition at a disadvantage," Kharge said.

The Congress president then reiterated his party's position on the outcome of the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections -- the Congress is yet to concede defeat in both these states -- and claimed fraud in the poll process.

"What happened in Maharashtra? We raised the issue everywhere. Rahul Gandhi raised the issue strongly. What kind of voter list they made? Maharashtra election was a fraud. The same thing happened in Haryana," the Congress president said.

"There has never been a fraud like the one that happened in Maharashtra polls, which was aimed at destroying democracy," Kharge alleged, pointing out that that the BJP won 90 per cent of the seats, which had never happened before.

"We will find out about it. The thief always gets caught," Kharge said, adding that the party leaders and lawyer are working towards it.

Kharge also lashed out at the PM Modi-led government for constantly attacking constitutional values since assuming power in 2014 and said Congress must fight to protect them.

"Constitutional institutions and principles are being attacked and we have to fight to protect them. Democracy is being finished slowly as key institutions and parliamentary procedures were being undermined.