NEW DELHI – In a scathing tweet, MP Saket Gokhale has accused the BJP of attempting to manipulate District Magistrates (DMs) to rig the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. Gokhale’s allegation comes in response to an internal BJP report that cited “lack of support from DMs” as a reason for the party’s poor performance in the state.

Sharing the print report titled “Lack of support from MLAs, ministers & DMs led to setback in Lok Sabha polls in UP, finds BJP task force,” Saket accused BJP of coercing DMs to manipulate the elections in their favour, Vartha Bharati reported.

Gokhale tweeted, “This is as brazen as it gets. An internal BJP report that was allegedly made to review the party’s loss in UP cites ‘lack of support from DMs’ as a reason. A DM is also known as the District Collector and is the Returning Officer for elections for that area. It is clear from this that the BJP openly tried to manipulate & coerce DMs to rig elections in their favor under the nose of the Modi-appointed Election Commission. And now, several DMs who didn’t ‘help’ the BJP during elections have been transferred. The fact that it went to the extent of pressuring DMs shows that the BJP is a gang of criminals who will do anything for power. And yet, despite openly trying to manipulate govt machinery during elections, Modi & BJP failed to get a majority.”