Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday criticised Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabh Rahul Gandhi over the party’s recent electoral defeats in bypolls, saying it needed to introspect rather than blame the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Shah said the Congress had not won an election in Gujarat for 41 years and claimed that voters continued to back Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.

Shah made the remarks while speaking about the bypoll results and the BJP’s performance in Gujarat’s local body elections, as Rahul Gandhi continued the INDIA bloc’s protest against the Election Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

“I want to make this point clear—and specifically convey it to Rahul ji—that the Congress party has not won a single election in 41 years.