NEW DELHI, 17 March, 2021 (TON): Indian Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that elections are not just about voting, noting that even Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi used to have and win polls.

In a conversation with the Prof. Ashutosh Varshney of Brown University on the "Democracy and Dialogue, R. Gandhi said, "Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi used to have elections and used to win them. It wasn't like there was no voting but there was no institutional framework to protect that vote.”

He added, "An election is not simply people going and pressing a button on a voting machine. An election is about narrative. An election is about institutions that make sure that the framework in the country is operating properly; an election is about the judiciary being fair and a debate taking place in parliament. So you need those things for a vote to count."

 Addressing the foreign criticism on India, he said, "We don't need foreign institutions to certify this, they have their views and frankly we don't need a stamp from them. But what they saying is correct, the situation is much worse than they imagine."

Mr. Gandhi slammed the government saying he is being attacked by the BJP, despite none from his family has been the PM for the last 30 years but there is an obsession that somehow we are in power.

He alleged that be it the parliament, judiciary, or the media, there is a constant onslaught on the institutions by the current government.