New Delhi, Oct 10: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Saturday questioned the veracity of the claims made by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi following the INDIA Bloc’s meeting with President Droupadi Murmu.

This came as a delegation of INDIA Bloc MPs, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, met the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday and submitted a memorandum alleging electoral irregularities by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and an attempt to undermine Indian democracy.

LoP Gandhi said President Droupadi Murmu had asked the Opposition delegation to provide evidence to substantiate its allegations of ‘vote chori (vote theft)’ following a meeting over the controversy surrounding CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

Reacting to LoP Gandhi’s remarks, BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy questioned the propriety of publicly disclosing details of a conversation with the President, arguing that such statements could raise concerns about the dignity of the constitutional office.

“When you meet a person holding the country’s highest constitutional office and then disclose what was discussed, it raises serious questions about propriety. Neither you nor I can go and ask the President what she said. Rahul Gandhi’s claims may even be untrue. However, as the Leader of the Opposition, he has the right to meet the President, but he does not have the right to comment on what the President said,” Rudy said.

Bihar BJP President Sanjay Saraogi also questioned the Opposition’s allegations, stating that although meeting the President was a constitutional right, the INDIA Bloc should have presented evidence to support its claims regarding the electoral roll revision exercise.

“Meeting the President is everyone’s constitutional right, but did you present any evidence? No evidence was provided regarding the SIR. The SIR process takes around 150 days, during which draft publications are shared with district presidents and a one-month period is given for objections. Across the country, around 20 lakh names have been deleted, and even ordinary citizens can fill Form 7,” Saraogi told media.

Janata Dal (United) National Spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan, speaking to media, said that political parties in a democracy were free to express their views but argued that the Opposition should also reflect on its political standing and its relationship with voters.

“In a democracy, no political party is barred from expressing its views. However, Opposition parties must understand that they reap what they sow. You have consistently ignored the people. Gyanesh Kumar’s tenure may be short-lived, but there are several states where the Congress was once a mainstream party and has been unable to regain that status,” Ranjan said.

The other members of the delegation were Mamata All India Trinamool Congress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee, J&K Chief Minister and National Conference Vice-President Omar Abdullah, NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule, CPI-M General Secretary M.A. Baby, RJD Rajya Sabha member Prof Manoj Kumar Jha, CPI General Secretary D. Raja, Samajwadi Party MP Rajeev Rai, and VCK President and MP Dr Thirumaavalavan Tholkappiyan.

The meeting took place after several days of protests by Opposition leaders against the Election Commission, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged irregularities in the electoral process. The Opposition has also been demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.

New Delhi, Oct 9: The overwhelming positive results for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently held bye-elections in Assam, West Bengal and Puducherry shows that ‘mobocracy’ has got a fitting reply from India’s robust democracy, BJP National spokesperson Smriti Irani said on Friday.

Addressing the media, after party’s landslide victory in West Bengal’s Nandigram, Smriti Irani took a jibe at Congress party’s ‘street politics’ and denounced its call to ‘hurt’ the Indian state, on pretext of fighting off the ‘tyrannical’ BJP.

“On January 15, 2025, the former Congress President (Rahul Gandhi) had said with open heart that he was fighting battle not against the BJP but against the Indian State, signalling that the constitutional and democratic institutions will come under attack from them,” the BJP leader said.

She added that never in the history of India, has any elected leader chosen or dared to inflict harm upon the country’s constitutional fabric.

Welcoming the resounding mandate across multiple states, Smriti Irani said, “Today, democracy has given a reply to mobocracy. In Uttar Pradesh, the election of BJP candidates to the Rajya Sabha is a matter of great joy for us. In Puducherry, we heartily welcome the victory of NDA candidate. From West Bengal, we are receiving overwhelming joyous news in Nandigram and Rejinagar,” Smriti Irani said.

“Nandigram was the bastion of Left-wing ideology, violence against the public. Today, the mandate for BJP shows victory for good governance. In Rejinagar, where nearly 71 per cent of voters belong to the minority community, the BJP is moving towards victory,” she added.

The BJP spokesperson also called out Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s recent appeal for “Smashing the Patriarchy”, highlighting how the “hollow claims” got exposed very soon.

Citing the example of Congress MP, also noted professor of a reputed university in the national capital, Smriti Irani said that the women students had lodged complaint against him accusing him of sexually harassing them in return for marks.

“Former Congress President who brags about smashing the patriarchy never acted against him, leave aside taking cognisance of the offence,” she added.

“The same professor has now been found guilty of harassing female students in the university’s inquiry report. I ask the Congress leadership why it didn’t initiate any political action against the indicted professor,” Smriti Irani asked.

Without taking name, she also targeted Rahul Gandhi’s alleged misbehaviour with woman policeman during the recent Jantar Mantar protest and demanded that he walks the talk on what he preaches.

Sonipat, Oct 9: Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (LJP-RV) Chief Chirag Paswan on Friday asserted that no amount of cancellations of trains or halting of connectivity will be able to stop the youth of the country.

He made the remarks after Indian Railways cancelled and rescheduled several trains which were to arrive at New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin railway stations on October 10, in view of anticipated severe road traffic congestion around the stations amid the proposed Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protest in the national capital.

Speaking to reporters after addressing the seventh Convocation ceremony of the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) in Kundli, Chirag Paswan said: “These are the youth of India; no one can stop them.”

“Those who try to spread such misconceptions…how many trains can anyone stop? How much connectivity can anyone halt? How many roads can anyone block? These are the youth of India; they possess the capability to show the world the way forward, and generations before them have done so as well. So, in such a situation, no one can stop them,” the Union Minister added.

Train services scheduled to arrive at New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin railway stations between 4 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday will be affected by the cancellations.

Meanwhile, the national capital has been turned into a fortress for the planned demonstration with more than 23,000 security personnel expected to be on duty.

Earlier, the Delhi Police said that permission for the CJP’s protest has been denied due to the organisers’ failure to comply with legal directions and their own undertakings during an earlier protest and sought the closure of 57 metro stations.

Following the Delhi Police’s proposal, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) announced earlier on Friday that the entry and exit of 57 metro stations will be closed from 9 p.m. on Friday till further orders, in view of the agitation.

However, the Supreme Court ordered that there should be no complete stoppage of Metro train services ahead of the proposed protest in the national capital on Saturday, and directed the Centre to ensure that Metro and other railway services are allowed to operate in a suitably regulated manner to minimise inconvenience to the public.