BJP attempting to subvert people’s mandate: Cong

A day before the announcement of the J&K Assembly elections results, the Congress accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of engaging in “malicious” tactics and abusing its power to undermine the democratic mandate favoring the Congress-National Conference (NC) alliance. The Congress claimed it would thwart the BJP’s design.

In a post on X, Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, said: “Facing imminent defeat, the BJP is resorting to desperate maneuvers to engineer a majority, hoping for a hung Assembly to facilitate its manipulation”.

Criticising the BJP for its “self-proclaimed bogus ‘Chanakya Niti”, Ramesh said: “We have substantial evidence that malicious steps are being taken through a questionable and malafide exercise of power to reverse the people’s verdict in favor of the Congress-NC alliance.”

Ramesh said the Congress would take all necessary actions to counter such efforts, adding that the party would not allow these “nefarious designs” to succeed.

KC Venugopal, Congress general secretary in-charge of the organisation, expressed concern over potential threat to the people’s mandate.

“The Congress-NC alliance is poised for a historic victory, but the BJP is unwilling to accept the people’s verdict and is attempting to subvert it through every available means,” Venugopal stated.

He emphasised that the Congress was vigilant and prepared to counter any such attempts to hijack democracy, underscoring that the misuse of institutions and the central government’s powers to alter the election outcome would not be tolerated.

According to the exit polls, the NC-Congress alliance is projected to lead, with the regional party expected to secure a majority of the seats. The BJP, while anticipated to improve slightly from its tally of 25 seats in the 2014 Assembly polls, is not predicted to match the alliance’s numbers. The PDP, which won 28 seats in the 2014 elections, is expected to secure fewer than 10 seats this time around.