Did Hardeep Puri Just Expose the Opposition's ‘Vote Chori’ Claims as Baseless?
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
- Hardeep Singh Puri criticizes the opposition's electoral allegations.
- He emphasizes the importance of facts and evidence in political discourse.
- Puri points out inconsistencies in the opposition's stance on paper ballots.
- The minister highlights irregularities in constituencies represented by opposition leaders.
- Underlying motives are attributed to vote bank politics.
New Delhi, Sep 10 (NationPress) Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched a fierce critique against Opposition parties on Wednesday, condemning their allegations of electoral misconduct. He accused them of undermining India’s strong democratic framework and propagating unfounded hysteria regarding voter lists. In a pointed message on X, Puri asserted that some politicians, driven by an inexplicable urge to tarnish democracy, have adopted a perspective where they discard logic, spread falsehoods, and cast doubt on India’s electoral integrity.
Puri highlighted the Opposition's contradictory stance on paper ballots. He remarked, “One day they advocate for paper ballots, yet when they lose an election conducted through this method, they fail to clarify how nearly 35 of their MPs voted for the NDA candidate during the vice-presidential election.”
He accused them of engaging in “shoot-and-scoot politics” by making allegations that lack substantiation. “Their claims are typically devoid of facts and are based on erroneous data; they collapse under the slightest scrutiny,” Puri noted.
The minister claimed that the Opposition consistently attributes their electoral defeats to “imaginary reasons” while neglecting to file formal complaints with the Election Commission of India (ECI) or provide evidence.
“Every assertion they’ve made regarding an imaginary ‘vote chori’ has proven to be a figment of their imagination,” he commented.
Puri illustrated this point by stating that the Opposition’s assertions about voter additions in Maharashtra were misleading. “More voters were added in 2004 and 2009 when the UPA triumphed than in 2024,” he emphasized. He also pointed to alleged irregularities in constituencies represented by senior Opposition figures, including “93,499 doubtful voters in Wayanad, 200,089 in Rae Bareli, and 71,977 with fraudulent addresses.”
Puri argued that the real intention behind these allegations was to engage in “vote bank politics.” He asserted that the Opposition’s aim is to “empower infiltrators, usurp the mandate of true Indians, and jeopardize national security.”