Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a sharp dig at the main opposition Congress party over its performance in the legislative council elections. In a post shared on the social media platform X, he asked people to guess the number of seats won by the Congress party in the recently held MLC elections, while this sarcastic remark by Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes at a time when a intense political debate is ongoing across the nation regarding electronic voting machines and traditional ballot papers. He also added a smiling emoji to his social media post, which further highlights his taunting tone regarding the opposition party's electoral standing.
This critical comment from Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes in the context of the election results for twenty eight MLC seats across four major states. The Prime Minister's taunt is also being linked to the continuous demand raised by the Congress party, where its leaders strongly advocate for returning to the use of ballot papers in all future elections across the country, while the Congress party has persistently questioned the NDA government and the election commission regarding alleged irregularities within the electoral process. The situation escalated to the point where the Congress and its allies staged nationwide protests over grave allegations of vote theft.
Meanwhile, responding to the call given by the Congress party, the opposition alliance known as the INDIA bloc is scheduled to organize a massive mega rally named Vote Bachao Desh Bachao at the historic Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on November 1, 2026. Amidst this charged political atmosphere, these latest election results have pushed the political opposition onto the backfoot once again. Observers and political analysts were closely monitoring these election outcomes because the opposition had heavily blamed existing voting systems for their past failures.
Looking at the ongoing vote counting for the twenty eight MLC seats, this statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived right in the middle of the counting process. According to the data available so far, the National Democratic Alliance or NDA is leading on fifteen seats, while the Congress party is surprisingly not leading on even a single seat. In the state of Bihar, a major political upset took place as four sitting MLCs lost their respective elections. Among those who lost their seats is five-time BJP MLC Naval Kishore Yadav, who failed to secure a victory. Also, Jan Suraaj opened its account in the legislative council by winning the Darbhanga Teachers Constituency.
Shifting focus to the political landscape of Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party appears to be in a strong position, while the Congress party's tally remains completely zero. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has successfully won five seats, whereas the prestigious Varanasi Teachers Constituency went to the account of the Samajwadi Party. Meanwhile, in the state of Karnataka, the BJP and JD(S) coalition continued its dominance by sweeping all four seats. Due to these results, the Congress party had to suffer the loss of one seat in Karnataka. In the state of Maharashtra, the counting of votes for five seats is still actively underway.
Following the emergence of these election results, the political debate concerning ballot papers and EVMs has reignited with full force. Pointing out the defeat of the Congress party, senior BJP leaders raised sharp questions asking why the party failed to win even when the elections were conducted using traditional ballot papers. BJP leaders argued that the opposition can't blame voting machines when they lose elections conducted via ballot papers. K. Shivakumar emphasized the ongoing necessity of holding elections through ballot papers. He stated that the Congress party will thoroughly review these electoral outcomes and formulate its future strategy accordingly, while this ongoing political discourse has set the stage for further intense debates across the nation.