On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress in aftertaste to the party’s failure to secure any seat in the legislative council by-elections in four states, by including a monocle emoji to imply a lack of relevance in his statement.
The bypolls were conducted in 28 Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka Legislative Council seats. The Congress contested 12 seats, out of which 4 seats it had won but was unable to get any of those.
Modi Targets Congress Over Ballot Papers
Balloting systems rather than electronic voting were used for the elections, highlighting Modi’s objections to the Congress’ past calls for electoral roll essentials to be scrapped and substituted with electronic voting machines.
Ballot papers used for MLAs, elections conducted in 28 seats across 4 big states – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka,” the Prime Minister said in a post on X. So, how many seats did Congress win, guess?
He included a monocle emoji along with his post, hinting towards an ironic and sceptical sentiment of the party’s standpoint on how to vote.
Major Setback in Karnataka
It was a major blow to the Congress party whose help became essential for the TDP government in the state, and the party was short of any victory as it failed to secure a single seat in its contested 10 seats in the assembly.
Additionally, the result allowed the party to keep none of the four seats it won in the bypolls it had contested.
Debate Over Voting Methods
The Congress has questioned electronic voting machines’ integrity and called for a return to ballot papers more often.
This was the party’s latest demand after it became known that the Election Commission has been meeting in the Indian Express’ accommodations to discuss the budgeting.This came at the heels of an article in the Indian Express reporting on the internal functioning of the same.
Modi’s words stoked a fresh breeze in the political discussions surrounding electoral systems and electoral technology. The bypoll result was also good news for the BJP to attack the Congress on its election performance and party symbol on the ballot paper.
The deal highlights the ongoing political feud between the government BJP and the main opposition Bharitiya Janata Party.