Gandhinagar, Oct 28 — Gujarat BJP MLA Hardik Patel on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress over its performance in Legislative Council elections across four states, highlighting that the polls were conducted using ballot papers, but the party failed to win a single seat.
In a post on social media platform X, Patel wrote: “4 major states. 28 MLC seats. Elections conducted using ballot papers! Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka. Now, take a guess: how many of these 28 seats did Congress actually win? No slogans. No excuses. Just look at the results!”
The post came amid counting and the declaration of results for 28 Legislative Council seats across the four states.
The Congress failed to secure a victory in the election cycle, with the results providing ammunition for the BJP to question the Opposition party’s arguments in favour of ballot papers amid its allegations concerning electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The outcome in Karnataka was a particular setback for the Congress, which is in power in the state. The BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance swept the four Legislative Council seats there, including the Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency previously held by the Congress.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won four seats, and the Samajwadi Party secured two, while counting continued in other constituencies.
Bihar also witnessed setbacks for established parties. Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party won its first Legislative Council seat after its candidate Suresh Rai defeated former Bihar Congress president Madan Mohan Jha in the Darbhanga Teachers’ constituency.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal also wrested the Patna Teachers’ seat from five-term BJP MLC Nawal Kishore Yadav. Counting for other constituencies was continuing, while results in Maharashtra were still emerging.
Patel’s intervention carries an added political dimension given his own journey from being a prominent critic of the BJP to becoming one of its legislators in Gujarat.
He rose to prominence in 2015 as the face of the Patidar reservation agitation, which challenged the then BJP-led state government.
The movement made him a significant political figure ahead of the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, when the Congress improved its performance against the BJP.
Patel joined the Congress in March 2019 and was appointed working president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee in July 2020.
However, differences with the party leadership grew, and he resigned from the Congress on May 18, 2022, criticising its functioning and leadership.
He formally joined the BJP on June 2, 2022, in Gandhinagar, subsequently receiving the party’s ticket from Viramgam for the Gujarat Assembly elections.
Patel won the seat in December 2022, defeating Aam Aadmi Party candidate Amarsinh Thakor by more than 51,000 votes, and entered the Assembly as a BJP MLA.
His latest post continues his criticism of his former party, using the ballot-paper results to challenge the Congress’s political messaging on electoral processes.