Agartala, Oct 28: Former Tripura Chief Minister and BJP MP Biplab Kumar Deb on Wednesday cited the NDA’s sweeping victory in Karnataka’s Legislative Council elections to argue that the electorate continues to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led alliance, dismissing the Opposition’s allegations of electoral and EVM manipulation.
The BJP-JD(S) alliance won all four Karnataka Legislative Council seats that went to polls on October 23, with the BJP securing three and its ally Janata Dal (Secular) winning one. The ruling Congress failed to win any of the four seats. The elections were conducted using ballot papers.
Deb said the results exposed the Opposition’s political narrative, arguing that the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance continued to enjoy public support despite repeated allegations against the electoral process and EVMs.
“Look at the INDIA bloc, particularly the Communist parties and the Congress in this state. They have no issue to raise,” Deb said, referring to the Opposition’s campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and its criticism of the Election Commission.
He said Parliament had witnessed extensive discussions on SIR in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, with Opposition members participating in the debate and Union Home Minister Amit Shah responding to their concerns.
Despite this, the Opposition continued its agitation, Deb said, alleging that its actions were intended to destabilise the country. He accused opposition parties of refusing to accept constitutional institutions, including the Supreme Court, High Courts and the Election Commission.
The BJP MP also referred to allegations by opposition parties that the ruling party manipulated electronic voting machines (EVMs) to secure electoral victories.
Pointing to the Karnataka Legislative Council results, where voting was conducted through ballot papers, Deb argued that the NDA’s victory undermined the Opposition’s claims.
The BJP won three seats, while the JD(S) captured the Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency, which had been held by the Congress. The results gave the NDA all four seats, dealing a setback to the ruling party in Karnataka.
Deb said the outcome demonstrated that the BJP’s electoral performance could not simply be attributed to allegations of EVM manipulation.
He further cited electoral outcomes in other states, including Rajasthan’s local-body elections, to claim that voters were backing the BJP and the NDA. He did not provide specific figures for those contests in his remarks.
Turning to Tripura, Deb said the state’s electorate continued to support the BJP and Prime Minister Modi, citing development initiatives undertaken during the BJP’s tenure in the state.
He expressed confidence that the NDA would contest the forthcoming civic elections in Tripura unitedly and emerge victorious, as it had in previous electoral contests.
The remarks come amid political discussions over the forthcoming municipal and nagar panchayat elections in Tripura, with the BJP and its ally TIPRA Motha yet to settle their electoral strategy.
