BJP leader Ram Madhav says ECI must answer SIR allegations

Bharatiya Janata Party national vice-president V. Ram Madhav has said the Election Commission of India must respond to allegations of large-scale irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Speaking in Vijayawada on Friday, Madhav also indicated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would remain the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

He said Modi would win two or three more elections. Madhav was addressing a memorial lecture, ‘Ism Nee Payanam Etu’, after releasing the book ‘Jaateeya Bhavam Karuvaina Communistlu’. He questioned whether victories by Congress and other Opposition parties in Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana had been achieved because of what he described as support from the BJP.

He said parties should not contest elections if they genuinely believed the electoral system was rigged. He also criticised young leaders who, according to him, were advising Opposition parties to stay away from elections they described as fixed or rigged. Madhav questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s conclusion that the Election Commission was helping the BJP win elections.

He argued that the commission constituted before 2014 was in place during elections held in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Responding to criticism of Modi’s victories, Madhav compared them with Jawaharlal Nehru’s three election victories. He attributed Modi’s expected future victories to his commitment to the principle of Antyodaya, which he described as ensuring that development benefits reach the last person in society.

Madhav said the principle, associated with Deendayal Upadhyaya, was reflected in welfare programmes of the Modi government. BJP Andhra Pradesh president P.V.N. Madhav, Rajya Sabha member Paka Satyanarayana and the book’s editor, Duggaraju Srinivas, attended the event.