Ahmedabad, Oct 27 (IANS) The Gujarat unit of BJP on Tuesday held marches in Ahmedabad and Rajkot under its ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy Campaign’, with senior party leaders accusing Congress of undermining the credibility of constitutional institutions and the Election Commission by questioning electoral processes.
Union Minister and former BJP national president J.P. Nadda joined Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi at the Ahmedabad march in Nava Vadaj, while state BJP president Jagdish Vishwakarma and the party’s state in-charge Tarun Chugh led the programme in Rajkot.
Addressing party workers in Ahmedabad, Nadda defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying the exercise was necessary to ensure that only eligible citizens could vote.
He said the process helped identify voters who had died, migrated, been registered more than once or were unavailable at their registered addresses.
“SIR is not a new process,” Nadda said, adding that electoral roll revisions had been conducted under previous governments, including Congress-led administrations.
He accused Congress of accepting electoral victories as the people’s mandate while blaming the Election Commission when it lost.
Referring to West Bengal, he cited what he described as an “unusual increase” in voter numbers in nine districts bordering Bangladesh and called for intensive verification of electoral rolls.
Nadda also referred to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of irregularities in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency, claiming that the Election Commission had sought details through the prescribed procedure, including an affidavit, but Congress had not completed the subsequent formalities.
He said complaints about elections should be raised before the competent authorities with supporting evidence.
“Today, several countries across the world look at India’s electoral process and the functioning of the Election Commission as examples,” Nadda said, adding that the Election Commission, Supreme Court and other constitutional institutions had demonstrated the strength of Indian democracy.
He also said the inclusion of the Leader of the Opposition in the appointment process for the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners was an important step towards transparency and institutional balance.
Sanghavi accused Congress of blaming electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the past and now questioning the system after electoral defeats.
He said political parties needed to work among people, understand their problems and earn public trust rather than rely on allegations.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys the strong support and love and trust of 1.4 billion citizens of the country,” Sanghavi said.
In Rajkot, Chugh said BJP workers had taken to the streets whenever democracy faced a threat, recalling the Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
He accused Rahul Gandhi and the INDIA alliance of attempting to weaken democratic institutions and said India’s democracy would neither be frightened nor bow down.
Chugh also questioned Congress’s objections to electoral procedures, asking why the party raised doubts about the SIR and the Election Commission after defeats but did not do so when it or its allies won elections in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Vishwakarma alleged that Congress is disturbing public peace after repeated electoral setbacks.
Referring to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks about Modi’s late father, he said: “Political differences should not lead to insulting language about family members.”
Both marches drew party workers, elected representatives, community leaders and residents.
Participants raised slogans including “Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy” and “The roar of democracy, the defeat of anarchy”.
–IANS
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