NEW DELHI: “What a joke!” remarked BJP as it rubbished the latest tranche of Rahul Gandhi‘s vote theft allegations and accused him of peddling baseless charges out of frustration in an attempt to create “Bangladesh and Nepal-like situations in India” by undermining democratic institutions.At a presser, former Union minister and LS MP Anurag Thakur said the Congress neta was undermining democracy and misleading people after repeated electoral defeats.“Rahul must understand that values of Constitution of Bhimrao Ambedkar, who was also deceived by Congress, are very high, and the people of the country have immense respect for it. Rahul Gandhi’s ill-intentions will never succeed in India,” Thakur said.Reacting to LoP’s allegations against EC, Thakur questioned whether Congress won Karnataka’s Aland seat in 2023 by “vote chori”. He said, “Rahul Gandhi didn’t clarify whether the voters he mentioned cast their votes.”Thakur added that in 2023, unsuccessful attempts were made to remove names from Aland constituency’s poll rolls. “EC directed the filing of an FIR in this regard and provided the mobile number and IP address,” Thakur said.BJP IT department head Amit Malviya called Rahul’s presser a “joke,” saying, “Rahul now makes a U-turn, claiming their candidate could have lost if the votes had been deleted. What a waste of public time.” Malviya was responding to Rahul’s post on X after his presser, alleging, “If this vote theft had not been caught and the 6,018 votes deleted, our candidate could have lost the election.”Malviya shared the Karnataka CEO’s statement pointing out that it was EC which had foiled the attempt to delete votes . “What a steep fall for the LoP, who openly declared it’s not his responsibility to defend India’s democracy. Shameful,” Malviya said.Thakur alleged that Rahul’s sole agenda is “infiltrators first politics”. He said that while Rahul speaks of protecting SCs, STs, and OBCs, his opposition to the EC’s review of electoral rolls harms these communities’ interests.Thakur said Rahul avoids filing an affidavit, as requested by the EC, or approaching courts because his claims lack substance. He pointed out that Rahul faced setbacks in court over allegations of corruption in Rafale deal. “It is due to this fear that he is not moving court on this issue,” Thakur said.Mocking Rahul’s comparison of his allegations to an “atom bomb” and his promise of a “hydrogen bomb”, Thakur said he engages in drama and “hit-and-run” politics because he does not have facts. “If his arguments have substance, why not go to court? He and Congress have no faith in democracy or constitutional institutions,” he added.Defending the poll panel, the BJP MP cited EC’s past associations with Congress, including former CECs MS Gill, who became a UPA minister, and TN Seshan, who contested LS polls on a Congress ticket. He recalled UPA govt’s appointment of Navin Chawla as CEC in 2009, despite objections from outgoing CEC N Gopalaswami, who accused Chawla of leaking sensitive information.“Congress misused EC. Is only now that EC has been functionally impartially and this is why Rahul repeatedly tries to weaken Indian democracy and mislead people, seeking to create situations like those in Bangladesh and Nepal,” Thakur concluded.