Congress president Kharge calls all elections illegal; demands dissolution of Lok Sabha, State Assemblies

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday (October 3, 2026) demanded the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, saying all elections were illegal, and that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Ministers of all States were illegal. He said fresh polls should be conducted using ballot papers.

"Today, the entire country is being run on illegal elections. Modi is an illegal Prime Minister, Shah is an illegal Minister, and all the Chief Ministers who have been elected anywhere are illegal. All of them should be dissolved, elections should be held, and elections should be conducted through ballot papers," he told reporters in Kalaburagi.

Mr. Kharge alleged that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were being misused, and said "their own people" were saying this. He alleged that the continuing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll had many irregularities and was undermining democracy, pointing out that the government was making many mistakes in the process.

He said the Opposition would continue to hold agitations across the country against the SIR exercise and the alleged misuse of the electoral process.

Mr. Kharge referred to the INDIA bloc meeting held on September 30, 2026, in which members of 20 parties and their legal cell participated, and said everyone agreed the SIR was going wrong for the country and was adversely affecting poor people, the uneducated, workers and, particularly, minorities.

He questioned what kind of free and fair election it would be if 500 votes were removed from a booth, alleging that attempts were now being made to add names as well.

The Congress president alleged that many people, particularly members of the BJP and the RSS, were going to wards, panchayats and villages where they wanted votes to be deleted, and were filling up forms there. He called it "completely wrong."