Bengaluru: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is winning the elections by resorting to "fraud" and questioned the authenticity of EVMs. The Congress veteran also referred to business tycoon Elon Musk's statement questioning the genuineness of EVMs to support his claim.
"Modi hasn't won a by election. Everything is fraud. He gets 10,000 names removed from the voter list or get 10,000 to 20,000 new names added. This is the truth but the question is how to prove it," Kharge said at the Congress Bhavan here. He was speaking at an event to pay tribute to former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi and Congress stalwart and first Deputy Prime Minister of India Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
Kharge said Musk, who is a tech expert, has said EVMs can be altered and hacked through computers. He added that no major western nation such as the US, Canada, Britain, Germany, France or Italy use EVMs. The Congress chief took a dig at the BJP leaders for defending EVMs everytime.
"They (BJP) say when we win we don't blame EVMs and don't demand ballot papers as in Telangana and Karnataka but when the BJP wins blame EVMs," Kharge said.
The veteran leader said, "We know their programme (strategy). They know what to do, where and to whom." The MP said there is a consistent effort to snatch and separate Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel from Congress which cannot happen because he staunchly believed in Congress ideology and had banned RSS post Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.
Kharge also accused Modi of "dividing" people instead of uniting them on the basis of religion and caste. He also flayed the PM for not appreciating the Congress leaders such as Indira Gandhi and former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi for sacrificing their lives for the country.
