Congress Claims BJP Paid Price For Kharge ‘Insult’ In ULB Polls

The Congress claimed that the BJP paid the price for allegedly “insulting” party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit, after a purification ceremony was held in Haldwani last month. The Congress also claimed that it won more SC and ST reserved seats than the BJP in the urban local body election results announced on Monday.

Congress won 542 of the SC-reserved wards compared to the BJP’s 350, or 192 more than the BJP. The Congress won 261 of the seats set aside for SC women, compared to the BJP’s 186, or 75 more. Congress won 53 ST seats compared to the BJP’s 39, according to Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra.

He claimed that by defeating the BJP and voting in favour of the Congress, the Dalit community had responded to the BJP’s constant criticism of the Constitution and reservation, as well as the alleged dehumanising treatment of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Uttarakhand, including demands that the venue be “purified” following his meeting.

Haldwani purification ritual sparks controversy

Following a rally by Kharge last month, police in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, filed a formal complaint last week against “unknown” individuals for allegedly “purifying” the city’s Ramlila Maidan.

Two days after Kharge’s August 8 demonstration at the Ramlila Maidan, the Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas performed a “purification” ritual on the ground, sparking the controversy.

Dotasra alleges unfair delimitation helped BJP win narrow margins

According to Dotasra, some wards have 4,000 voters, while others have 35,000, calling the delimitation unlawful and against the regulations. Some wards in smaller local bodies have 600 voters, while others have 3,000.

As a result, among the 4,097 wards that the BJP won, 1,316 had a margin of victory of fewer than 100 votes, and 772 had a margin of victory of less than 50 votes. Similarly, the BJP won 13 wards by just one vote, which Dotasra attributed to the alleged unlawful and unfair delimitation. He claimed that otherwise, the BJP would have lost the polls in each of these wards.

Additionally, he said that the Congress party had asked for a recount in 1,316 wards, claiming “that the results were forcibly withheld in those wards where the Congress candidate was ahead by a margin of 200-300 votes, so that an atmosphere could be created in favour of the BJP and the Chief Minister.”