‘They look for excuses’: Chirag Paswan slams Rahul Gandhi amid EC row, says LoP has ‘accepted defeat’ in Bihar polls | India News
NEW DELHI: Union minister Chirag Paswan on Sunday claimed that Congress MP and leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has already conceded defeat in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, citing Gandhi’s recent remarks targeting the Election Commission of India (ECI). Speaking to reporters, Paswan accused Gandhi of deflecting blame and targeting constitutional bodies instead of holding his own party accountable.“The problem with Congress and its leaders is that when introspection is needed, they look for excuses for losing elections,” Paswan said, as quoted by the news agency ANI. “If Rahul Gandhi needs to find faults in any institution, it should not be a constitutional institution, but his own Congress party. Blaming the Election Commission, accusing someone of fixing elections, saying that the EVM is faulty, all this shows that Rahul Gandhi has already accepted defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections.“Bihar will go to the polls later this year.Paswan further predicted that after Bihar, the opposition will suffer defeats in Assam and West Bengal as well.Meanwhile, RJD leader and Bihar’s leader of opposition, Tejashwi Yadav, came out in strong support of Gandhi. Speaking in Patna, Yadav accused the BJP of compromising constitutional institutions, claiming, “Ever since Narendra Modi has become the Prime Minister, all constitutional institutions have been hijacked. Before the ECI announces the elections, the BJP IT Cell knows the schedule.”Tejashwi said the opposition’s efforts were not just about power. “Everyone is working together, not to form the government, but to strengthen Bihar,” he added, backing Gandhi’s criticism of the ECI.Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had on Saturday posted on X criticising the ECI’s response to his allegations of rigging in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections. He wrote, “Dear EC, You are a Constitutional body. Releasing unsigned, evasive notes to intermediaries is not the way to respond to serious questions.”He urged the Commission to publish machine-readable electoral rolls and release all CCTV footage from polling booths post-5 pm to ensure transparency. “Evasion won’t protect your credibility. Telling the truth will,” he wrote.The ECI later dismissed Gandhi’s remarks, calling his allegations “unsubstantiated” and an “affront to the rule of law.” The Commission said that all relevant facts had been shared with the Congress party in December 2024 and are publicly available.The poll panel warned that spreading misinformation disrespects the law and demotivates lakhs of honest poll workers. “After any unfavourable verdict by the voters, trying to defame the Election Commission… is completely absurd,” the Commission said in a detailed statement.In his op-ed titled Match-fixing Maharashtra, Gandhi had alleged that the state elections were a “blueprint for rigging democracy”, involving fake voters, inflated turnout, targeted bogus voting, and concealed evidence.
