Cong must explain ballot paper losses after EVM claims: Telangana BJP chief
Synopsis
The BJP won 13 of 28 Legislative Council seats across four states in elections held by ballot paper — the very format Congress had demanded as an EVM alternative. Congress won just one seat, handing the BJP and PM Modi a ready-made political counter-punch against years of EVM tampering allegations.
Key Takeaways
Telangana BJP President N.
Ramchander Rao challenged Congress on 29 October 2026 to explain its near-total defeat in ballot-paper-based Legislative Council elections.
The BJP won 13 of 28 seats across Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar , and Karnataka ; Congress secured only 1 seat .
PM Narendra Modi posted on X highlighting the Congress rout in these ballot-paper polls.
In Uttar Pradesh , BJP held 6 seats ; SP won 5 .
In Karnataka , Congress won none; BJP retained all 3 it contested.
In Bihar , BJP won 3 of 8 seats; the Jan Suraaj Party made its Upper House debut by winning 1 .
In Maharashtra , the MVA won 3 of 5 seats, including Congress's Abhijit Wanjari defeating BJP's candidate in Nagpur .
Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President N. Ramchander Rao on Thursday, 29 October 2026, challenged the Congress to explain its near-total wipeout in the recent Legislative Council elections conducted via ballot papers — the very mode the opposition had long championed as a safeguard against electoral fraud. The remarks came a day after the BJP swept 13 of the 28 Legislative Council seats contested across four states, while the Congress managed just one seat.
Rao's Challenge to Congress
'The Congress party, which had been crying about EVMs, must now answer questions about ballot papers... It has lost in Karnataka, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The Congress claimed that EVMs were being tampered with, but what answer does it have regarding ballot papers?' Rao said. He added pointedly: 'Does it now want ballot papers to be removed as well? The Congress has been exposed, and its claims about EVM tampering and vote theft are completely false. These allegations are baseless.'
Rao called on the Congress to 'keep quiet and stop trying to create an atmosphere of anarchy in the country.' His remarks encapsulate the BJP's broader counter-narrative: that Congress's years-long campaign against Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) was politically motivated rather than grounded in evidence.
PM Modi Weighs In
Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the chorus on Wednesday, posting on X: 'MLC elections in 28 seats across 4 big states — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka. Elections held using ballot papers. Guess how many seats Congress won?' The post drew wide attention and amplified the BJP's messaging ahead of upcoming state polls.
State-by-State Breakdown
All 28 seats contested belonged to graduate or teacher constituencies. Polling was held on 23 October using ballot papers, though the counting process extended over nearly two days and was marked by confusion, allegations, and protests.
In Uttar Pradesh, where 11 seats were contested across Varanasi, Lucknow, Jhansi, Agra, Gorakhpur, Meerut, Bareilly, Moradabad, and Faizabad, the BJP retained its tally of six seats. The Samajwadi Party (SP), its principal challenger, won five seats, increasing its count by two.
In Karnataka, Congress drew a blank. The Janata Dal (Secular) — JD(S) — wrested the Bengaluru teacher constituency from the ruling party, while the BJP held all three seats it contested, winning the North-East teacher, South-East graduate, and West graduate constituencies.
In Bihar, the BJP won three of the eight seats, the Janata Dal (United) secured one, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won one, the Jan Suraaj Party opened its Upper House account by bagging one, and independents claimed two seats.
In Maharashtra, the ruling Mahayuti alliance won two of the five seats contested, while the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won three. In a closely fought contest in Nagpur — Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's home district — Congress candidate and sitting MLC Abhijit Wanjari defeated BJP's Sudhakar Kohale.
Context: The Long-Running EVM Debate
Congress and several opposition parties have, over multiple election cycles, questioned the integrity of EVMs, demanding a return to paper ballots or at least greater VVPAT verification. The Legislative Council elections — held via ballot papers as mandated for these constituencies — now hand the BJP a ready rebuttal. Notably, even ballot-paper polls were not free of controversy here: the counting process itself drew protests and allegations. That detail complicates the BJP's clean narrative, but it has not blunted its political punch.
What This Means Going Forward
The results are likely to embolden the BJP's stance against demands for EVM replacement ahead of upcoming state and national elections. Congress, meanwhile, faces pressure to recalibrate its electoral grievance strategy or risk further credibility erosion on the issue. The Jan Suraaj Party's debut Legislative Council win in Bihar also signals a new dynamic in state politics worth watching.
Point of View
But ballot-paper polls have now produced an even starker verdict against the party. However, the fact that counting itself descended into confusion and protests in these very elections is an inconvenient footnote — it suggests process concerns are not unique to EVMs. Congress's EVM campaign was always partly about political mobilisation rather than pure procedural reform, and the BJP knows that. What the results genuinely expose is not that EVMs are infallible, but that Congress's ground organisation and candidate strength have weakened across multiple states — a structural problem no voting method can fix.
NationPress
29 Oct 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the BJP challenging Congress over ballot papers?
The BJP is pointing out that Congress won only 1 of 28 Legislative Council seats in elections conducted via ballot papers — the format Congress had long demanded as an alternative to EVMs it alleged were tampered with. Telangana BJP chief N. Ramchander Rao and PM Modi both used the results to call the Congress's EVM tampering allegations baseless.
What were the Legislative Council election results across the four states?
The BJP won 13 of 28 seats across Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Karnataka. The Congress secured 1 seat. The SP gained 5 seats in UP, while the Jan Suraaj Party won its first Bihar Upper House seat and the MVA won 3 of 5 seats in Maharashtra.
What did PM Modi say about the election results?
PM Modi posted on X on Wednesday highlighting the Congress rout, asking — 'MLC elections in 28 seats across 4 big states — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka. Elections held using ballot papers. Guess how many seats Congress won?' The post underscored the BJP's counter-narrative against EVM tampering claims.
Were the ballot-paper elections completely controversy-free?
No. Polling was held on 23 October, but the counting process extended over nearly two days and was marked by confusion, allegations, and protests, even though EVMs were not used. This complicates the BJP's clean narrative while not undermining its core political argument against Congress.
What was the notable outcome in Maharashtra's Nagpur constituency?
In Nagpur — the home district of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis — Congress candidate and sitting MLC Abhijit Wanjari defeated BJP's Sudhakar Kohale in a closely contested result, which stood as a rare bright spot for the Congress in an otherwise difficult election cycle.
