Zero. Out of 28 MLC seats contested nationwide, the Indian National Congress won not a single one — and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi wasted no time making the arithmetic sting on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. The BJP leader's post landed like a verdict: no EVMs to blame this time, because many of these seats were decided on paper ballot.

Ballot paper, same result — the EVM alibi evaporates

At the heart of Joshi's broadside is a pointed contradiction. Congress has, since at least 2014, periodically raised questions about the integrity of Electronic Voting Machines after election defeats, alleging that manipulated machines robbed the party of mandates it had earned. The MLC election format punctures that argument in a specific way: a large share of MLC seats are filled through paper-ballot votes cast by sitting MLAs — the very mechanism Congress has implicitly endorsed as the gold standard over EVMs.

Joshi framed it with deliberate economy: 'Button or Ballot: Result is the same.' When the medium changes but the outcome does not, he argued, the problem is not the machine — it is the message the party is sending to voters and legislators alike.

Losing ground in Karnataka — even at home

The Karnataka dimension sharpens the embarrassment. Congress has governed Karnataka since its decisive assembly-election victory in May 2023, giving it direct influence over the MLA bloc that casts ballots in MLC polls. Yet, according to Joshi's post, the party failed to hold even a sitting member's seat in the state — losing on home turf, with its own legislators as the electorate.

That detail matters because MLC polls in a state where your party controls the assembly are widely regarded as a formality for the ruling side. Losing one under those conditions is unusual enough to invite the kind of scrutiny Joshi is now directing at Rahul Gandhi and the broader Congress leadership.

The 'vote chori' narrative under pressure

Joshi invoked the phrase 'vote chori' — literally 'vote theft' — the Congress-aligned language that has circulated on social media and in party communications to describe alleged electoral manipulation. His argument: a party that questions the system's integrity loses credibility when it loses on the very paper-ballot system it prefers.

The broader pattern is well-established in Indian politics. Opposition parties have routinely contested EVM results in post-defeat press conferences, petitions, and social media campaigns. The Election Commission of India has consistently defended EVM security, and courts have repeatedly declined to order paper-ballot reversions. MLC results decided by legislators — away from mass public voting — offer a cleaner test case: smaller electorates, known voters, paper trails.

Joshi closed his post with a direct call: '@RahulGandhi and the Congress leadership must stop crying foul and introspect on their repeated electoral failures.' The phrasing is combative, but the underlying challenge is structural — how does an opposition recalibrate its institutional-mistrust messaging when the data stops cooperating?

Thirty-six months of Karnataka governance, a national opposition role, and now a blank scorecard on 28 MLC seats — Congress will need answers that go beyond the ballot box itself.