Ram Madhav Calls 'Vote Chori' Charge Baseless, BJP to Launch Seva Sankalp Abhiyan

BJP national vice-president V. Ram Madhav on Sunday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's "Vote Chori" allegation against the NDA government as baseless, and criticised the Congress for directing accusations at the Election Commission of India.

Speaking to the media in Tirupati, where he was on a pilgrimage and watched the "Mann ki Baat" programme with party leaders, Mr. Madhav said opposition parties were finding it difficult to accept the verdict of the people in a democratic set-up and were consequently making what he described as wild allegations. He said the fear of repeated electoral defeats continued to haunt them, and argued that disparaging constitutional bodies should be condemned by everyone. He appealed to the public to stand by constitutional institutions.

Mr. Madhav also announced that the BJP would begin the "Seva Sankalp Abhiyan" on October 7 to mark 25 years of Narendra Modi's public life in elected executive office, as Chief Minister and Prime Minister. He urged party leaders and workers to ensure the programme's success.

Addressing party cadre, he said the BJP's political journey was not about seeking power or positions but about serving the people. He asked them to aim for a hundred per cent strike rate by winning every seat in the coming local body elections.

In Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh BJP president P.V.N. Madhav separately rejected the opposition's vote theft allegations as baseless and accused it of spreading misinformation because it could not digest the BJP's growing support. Addressing a press conference at the party office, he criticised Mr. Gandhi for making what he called baseless allegations and warned against attempts to mislead the public through social media.

On charges of manipulation of electoral rolls, he said the country has an established mechanism for their preparation and revision through prescribed forms and periodic exercises, and that the ECI had clarified that the Special Intensive Revision process was being carried out transparently. He attributed the BJP's organisational strength to its structure from the booth level up to the mandal and district levels, and challenged opposition parties to build their own organisations and contest elections if they genuinely had public support.

State BJP vice-president Kola Anand, general secretary N. Ramesh Naidu and State spokespersons Jalli Madhusudhan, S. Muni Subramanyam and Gali Pushpalatha were present.