Amit Shah challenges Rahul Gandhi to debate 'vote chori' in special Parliament session

In a blistering counterattack on the INDIA bloc over its 'vote chori' allegation, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said the government is ready to convene a special session of Parliament on the issue and dared Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to debate the matter in the House.

Shah defended the electoral roll revision exercise, accused Congress of protecting infiltrators and questioned its criticism of EVMs, citing Congress victories in several states. (HT Photo/Reuters)Dismissing the INDIA bloc's rally in Delhi on Sunday as a "save infiltrator" rally, he wondered how the Congress formed governments in states, including Telangana, if the EVMs are bad, and said that Rahul Gandhi can become Prime Minister only in mock Parliament.

Leading the BJP's 'Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy' padayatra here, Shah said: " He (Rahul) holds the Constitution in hand, but doesn't respect the Constitution. Rahul ji, you don't allow Parliament to run. Be it EVMs, SIR, infiltrators, I challenge you from Hyderabad.

We are ready to convene a special session of Parliament. Come for debate." However, the Congress party was unwilling to debate. If a Parliament session is held, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will "shred Congress into pieces," he said and accused the Congress of wishing to be in the limelight through "anarchy." The grand old party was trying to stop the SIR exercise to protect "infiltrators from Bangladesh" in the electoral rolls; he alleged and asserted that the BJP would remove every infiltrator from the electoral rolls.

Taking a swipe at the INDIA bloc's 'Vote Bachao' rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, Shah dubbed it a 'Ghuspetiya Bachao' rally (save infiltrators). "Should infiltrators be removed from the country or not? Should SIR be conducted or not?

The entire Congress and company is engaged in stopping SIR. Because these infiltrators are their vote bank," he claimed. Asserting that BJP workers stand with SIR, he said only citizens of the country should be able to vote.

Rahul Gandhi was lying when he claimed that 13 crore voters' names had been removed from the electoral rolls as 6.15 crore of them had shifted to other places; nearly three crore were dead, and one crore votes were duplicate entries.

"Now comes what causes stomach ache for Rahul Gandhi. Three crore votes are those that do not exist. They are Bangladeshi infiltrators. Three crore people are those who do not exist. They are not present. These three crore are infiltrators.

Tell me, who are these three crore people? Should they be removed or not? Rahul ji says don't remove," Shah said, adding, "we will remove each and every infiltrator from the electoral rolls." Referring to Congress's allegation that BJP won because of SIR, he asked whether BJP's win in the 2014 and 2019 polls was because of SIR when the exercise was not conducted.

BJP won Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam Assembly polls. On the mock parliament held in Delhi, he said Rahul Gandhi should have taken the role of Prime Minister in the mock parliament. "Shall I say why? Because in real Parliament, he (Rahul Gandhi) will never be able to become PM...so, it will bring peace to Sonia Gandhi's heart," Shah said, adding Congress was no match for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.

Taking potshots at Rahul Gandhi's foreign trips "every three-four months", Shah said one needs to work hard and resolve people's problems. If EVMs are faulty, how did Congress win assembly polls in Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, he asked.

Congress claims credit when it wins elections, but blames EVMs when it loses, he said and recalled a Hindi idiom about a worker blaming his tools to hide his inability to deliver results.