Congress party's mission is to win 50 seats now: PM Modi :::::: Namo dig at Congress: 'Election Commission became truly independent under BJP'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the Congress party has now launched ‘Mission 50’ and is working to win a minimum of 50 seats only in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. “The entire Congress family is working to save its face and win 50 seats now. The ‘cycle’ has also punctured,” he said.

Modi said that he had definite information about Congress party's ‘mission’. 

“I had said that the ‘Shehzada’ (Rahul Gandhi) will flee from Wayanad. I had also said that he has no courage to go to Amethi and I was proved right,” he said. 

“Now the ‘do Ladkon ki jodi’ is being relaunched but their efforts have flopped. They have already booked tickets for their holiday abroad,” he added.

The Prime Minister added that the two ‘shehzadas’ (Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav) share the ‘same horoscope’.

“Both pursue the politics of appeasement, promote mafia, give protection to corruption and believe in nepotism. You should vote in large numbers for the BJP and ensure the development of your area,” he said.

The Prime Minister further said that the INDIA bloc has started falling apart like a pack of cards and their workers too are disillusioned.

 "The Election Commission has been a single-member institute for about 50—60 years. The officials who have come out from there have either been governors or MPs or contested parliamentary elections against LK Advani," the Prime Minister said.

Dismissing the Opposition's questions about the credibility of the Election Commission, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the poll body became "truly independent" under the BJP regime. In an exclusive interview with India Today, PM Modi, taking a swipe at the Congress, said the Election Commission had been a single-member body for 50—60 years.

Without naming the Congress, the Prime Minister said previously, people close to a party were appointed as election commissioners. The Opposition has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of "favouring" the BJP. PM Modi responded to these allegations in an exclusive interview with India Today TV.

In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan contested unsuccessfully against Advani from Gandhinagar on a Congress ticket.

"Even the Election Commissioners of that era who have retired still tweet promoting the same political philosophy. They give their opinions and write articles. This means that the Election Commission has become completely independent only now," he further said.

When asked about the Congress's charge of discrepancies in the voter turnout data released by the poll body for the first and second phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, PM Modi said it was a matter that should be discussed by experts.

Recently, controversy erupted after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge questioned the delay in the release of the final voting percentages for the first and second phases.

Kharge pointed out that the election watchdog released the final voter turnout data for the first two phases of elections on April 30 — 11 days after the first phase of polling and four days after the second phase.

The Election Commission rejected the charges of mismanagement and delay in the release of turnout data, saying the allegations were "reflective of a biased and deliberate attempt to spread confusion".

In March, the Opposition had also attacked the BJP over the sudden and unexplained exit of former Election Commissioner Arun Goel just days before the announcement of the poll schedule.