New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) The BJP on Friday criticised Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, after he accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of 'gaslighting' voters amid a controversy over the quality of ‘indelible’ ink used in marker pens during the Maharashtra civic body elections.

Responding to Gandhi’s remarks, BJP leaders said his statements clearly indicate that the Congress party is heading towards a major defeat. They further alleged that Rahul Gandhi has a habit of blaming institutions or individuals whenever election results do not go in his favour.

Speaking to IANS, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said that Rahul Gandhi’s social media post accusing the system of 'vote theft' reflects his inability to accept electoral outcomes.

“Rahul Gandhi has posted on the social media platform X that vote theft is an anti-national act. Rahul Gandhi himself is anti-national, and whenever election results do not go in his favour, he always tries to blame someone else for the loss,” Bhandari said.

He added that emerging trends in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections indicate a major setback for the Congress.

“The trends in the BMC elections and Rahul Gandhi’s post indicate that the Congress party is set to face a heavy defeat. Earlier, it was... sometimes the SIR, sometimes the EVMs, and sometimes the Election Commission ... that he blamed. Whenever he takes these allegations to the court of public opinion, the people of the country continue to keep the Congress in the opposition, as they see it as an anti-national party,” Bhandari told IANS.

He further claimed that when such allegations reach the courts of law, they are consistently proven false. “Today, the Congress party has been exposed as a major liar and a highly corrupt party, both in the court of public opinion and the court of law,” he added.

Another BJP spokesperson, Ajay Alok, also launched a sharp attack on the Congress leader, accusing him of repeatedly creating baseless narratives.

“Rahul Gandhi is no longer just stubborn; he has become the embodiment of stubbornness. Whatever he says makes no sense. They keep inventing excuses -- sometimes the ink is weak, sometimes votes are stolen, sometimes EVMs are faulty, and sometimes the voter lists are flawed,” Alok said.

He added that the Congress party has failed to recognise its own shortcomings.

“They fail to understand that the problem lies with them. They have already failed, and the public has repeatedly and decisively rejected them,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi shared an article from a Mumbai-based daily that highlighted concerns raised by voters over the quality of indelible ink. In a post on X, he alleged that vote theft was an anti-national act and accused the Election Commission of eroding public trust.

“Election commission gaslighting citizens is how trust has collapsed in our democracy. Vote Chori is an anti-national act,” he wrote.

This is not the first time that Rahul Gandhi has accused authorities of vote theft. In the past, he has raised similar allegations in Bihar, Haryana, and several other states following electoral defeats.

Notably, a major controversy erupted on Thursday over multiple claims that indelible ink applied to voters after polling was getting erased easily, thus opening the space for compromising the elections.

Opposition leaders, including local Congress leaders, claimed that at multiple booths, markers and not ink were being used to mark voters, and these marks were getting wiped off with sanitiser.

As the issue snowballed into a bigger row, the State Election Commission, though initially hesitant, ordered a probe into the matter and told the media that a detailed enquiry would be conducted to ascertain the viral video claims and also to check whether they were genuine or mischievous.

It also told the media that there was no deviation from standard practice, and the same ink was being used in the BMC elections.

Meanwhile, early trends from the Maharashtra civic body elections indicate a favourable outcome for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. As of 2.50 p.m., the BJP was leading in 1,122 wards, while its ally, the Shiv Sena, was ahead in 283 wards across 29 civic bodies.

The spotlight remains on Mumbai, where the reunited Thackeray brothers are contesting together in an attempt to reclaim their political base against the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. According to early leads, the BJP-led alliance is ahead in 118 wards in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, while the Thackeray brothers are leading in 78 wards.

--IANS

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