The Maharashtra BJP has filed a police complaint against Ashok A Jagtap, also known as Bhai Jagtap, over his remarks, comparing the Election Commission to a "dog" that does the bidding of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya said that he has written to the Election Commission and filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police Commissioner. "Such kind of insult and humiliation of the Election Commission which is a constitutional body can't be tolerated. Action should be initiated against Bhai Jagtap. In the last two days, Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) everybody has been targeting EVM and Election Commission because everyone is scared of the local body Mumbai Municipal Corporation election which is due in March 2025"
Earlier, Bhai Jagtap had ruled out any chance to apologise to the EC for his "objectionable" remark. The remark came on a day the Congress submitted a memorandum to the State Election Commission CEO, alleging irregularities in the recent state Assembly elections.
Jagtap, who is also the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, said the election results were "unbelievable". He said the people of Maharashtra were against the ruling BJP-NCP-Shive Sena Mahayuti regime and the credit for the one-sided election results should go to EVMs. "This is an unexpected [election] verdict. We cannot believe it… People in the state were totally against the (ruling) Mahayuti regime, but the entire credit for it goes to the EVMs. Yes… EVMs tampered… I will say hacked at some places," Jagtap said.