Siddaramaiah Recalls How Congress Candidate 'Cheated' To Defeat Him In 1991, BJP Reacts

Last Updated:August 29, 2025, 14:34 IST

BJP called out Congress's "hypocrisy" and dubbed its "Vote Adhikar" rally a pathetic attempt to delegitimise the very democratic process that has shown them their true place

Sitting MP Basavaraj Patil Anwari, who switched to Congress from JDS, defeated Siddaramaiah in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections from Karnataka's Koppal. (File pic/PTI)

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah on Friday alleged that he lost an election to a Congress candidate due to cheating when he contested the 1991 Lok Sabha election on Janata Dal Secular’s ticket, allowing the BJP to attack the grand-old-party, which is organising “Vote Adhikar Yatra" in Bihar, claiming vote fraud.

“In 1991, when I contested the Lok Sabha election, I lost it because of cheating (fraud), we can say. At that time, Ravi Varma Kumar only filed the case as my advocate by drafting it without taking any fees. He fought it for me," Siddaramaiah said.

Sitting MP Basavaraj Patil Anwari, who switched to Congress from JDS, defeated Siddaramaiah in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections from Karnataka’s Koppal. Anwari’s victory margin was less than 12,000 votes. Siddaramaiah then approached the Karnataka High Court, alleging poll officials rejected 22,243 votes during the voting.

After Siddaramaiah’s remark, BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya called out Congress’s “hypocrisy" and dubbed its “Vote Adhikar" rally a pathetic attempt to delegitimise the very democratic process that has shown them their true place.

“The irony is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah is in Bihar for a ‘Vote Adhikar’ rally—marching with the same Congress he once accused of electoral fraud in the 1991 Koppal Lok Sabha polls against Basavraj Patil Anwari. Back then, he cried ‘vote chori’ because he lost on ballot papers. Today, Rahul Gandhi, the political dynast, is crying wolf about ‘electoral fraud’ only because the people of India have decisively thrown the Congress out of power through the democratic process and the unhackable EVMs. This isn’t about democracy; it is about a family business that has lost its relevance. The ‘Vote Adhikar’ rally is a masterclass in hypocrisy and a pathetic attempt to delegitimise the very democratic process that has shown them their true place," Malviya wrote on X.

The Congress party has been alleging that the BJP commit “vote fraud" to win elections in collusion with the Election Commission, a charge denied by the ruling party.

News politics Siddaramaiah Recalls How Congress Candidate 'Cheated' To Defeat Him In 1991, BJP Reacts

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