In a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had earlier claimed that 10 lakh people were expected to attend the INDIA bloc’s rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday claimed that 40% of the venue was vacant.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that apart from Gandhi, other top Congress leaders like KC Venugopal and Pawan Khera had claimed that 10 lakh people would participate in the rally, but only a handful turned up. “You can see in the background that 40 per cent of Ramlila Maidan, 40 per cent of the space, was vacant. Rahul Gandhi and his team claimed that 10 lakh people would attend. Out of 28,000 chairs, around 5,000–7,000 were empty between 3:30 pm and 4 pm. This is the reality behind Congress’s claim of 10 lakh attendees,” Patra said on Sunday, following the INDIA bloc’s rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan.
Following the rally, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that Kumar should resign as people had lost faith in him. Meanwhile, Opposition leaders hailed the rally as a success. “This was a very successful rally. The BJP is frustrated by seeing the large numbers.
Senior advocate and Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi described it as “very successful”. CEC Gyanesh Kumar will have to resign,” Singhvi said.
Oppn raises ‘vote chori’ pitch at Ramlila Maidan
The rally was attended by top Opposition leaders like Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Trinamool Congress’ Mamata Banerjee, former J&K chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.
At the rally over Opposition’s election rigging charge, Congress’ Gandhi said that Kumar would go to jail, adding that said his removal from the poll body post would be the first step towards restoring the country’s democratic institutions. INDIA bloc on Sunday held a mega rally against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the alleged discrepancies in the voter rolls revision.
