Introspect on repeated failures in elections, don't blame EVMs: Shah to Rahul Gandhi
Telegraph | 10 May 2026
Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday advised the Congress to go for a soul-search instead of making excuses for its repeated election defeats in the past years and raised questions about Rahul Gandhi’s leadership.
“I feel that the Congress needs introspection for its repeated loss in the elections. The people of the country voted against the Congress after Rahul Gandhi ji became the party’s leader. The INDIA alliance is also set to crumble under the leadership of Rahulji. Those who don’t go for soul-searching and give excuses for their failures cannot win,” Shah said while addressing the BJP’s legislature party meeting at New Town on Friday.
He invited all parties to come forward to make the election process free from irregularities and violence, expressing hope that the poll procedure in Bengal would not be violent any more.
“This year’s peaceful, free and fair elections would be virtuous for Bengal. I appeal to all parties to make the election peaceful, free and fair, as it is a festival of democracy. Wherever we have come to power, we have put an end to violence and malpractice in elections,” said Shah.
Then, the Union home minister came down heavily on the Congress.
“Now, I would like to talk about the Congress. The Congress has not been winning elections for the past few years. When it realised that it would not be able to win elections, it started defaming the election procedure. This is why Rahulji started blaming EVMs, malpractices, electoral rolls and sometimes the special intensive revision of rolls,” said Shah.
He then asked if the Congress was losing elections because of electoral malpractices of the BJP, and why the party did not come to power for years in many states.
“We came to power in Delhi in 2014, but why did the Congress fail to make a chief minister in Tamil Nadu since 1967. Was it because of electoral malpractice? In Bengal, the Congress has not come to power in the past 49 years. Was it because of malpractice? The Congress did not come to power in Bihar for 26 years and did not come to power in Gujarat and Odisha for 30 years and 26 years respectively,” said the home minister.
Shah then said all other parties, except the BJP, should be blamed if the Congress had not come to power in those states for so long because of electoral malpractices.
“If all these were because of electoral malpractices, then you should blame the parties you have allied with. The parties that you think have done malpractice in the elections are with you in the INDI alliance,” said Shah.
Loss of lives and allegations of booth capturing, intimidation of voters and proxy voting were common features in the elections in Bengal.
But there was no large-scale violence or loss of lives in the two-phase elections in the state this time.
“It is the responsibility of the BJP, with the help of all other parties, to make violence and irregularities during the elections a thing of the past,” said Shah.