Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was asked to perform ten push-ups as a light-hearted punishment for arriving late to a training session for party workers. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha cheerfully accepted the light-hearted rule against tardiness, setting an example for others. Soon, district Congress presidents who were also late joined him, and what began as a routine organisational meeting transformed into a spirited team-building moment.

According to an NDTV report citing a Congress source, the incident occurred in Pachmarhi during the party’s ‘Sangthan Srijan Abhiyan’—an initiative aimed at strengthening the organisation’s structure. Gandhi, who briefly paused his campaigning for the Bihar elections to attend the Madhya Pradesh event, arrived late for one of the sessions.

Sachin Rao, who led the training, reminded everyone about the rule for latecomers and told Gandhi that they would have to perform push-ups as a form of discipline. The Congress leader readily agreed, dropping to the ground to complete ten push-ups while wearing a white T-shirt and trousers. Inspired by his participation, several district Congress presidents who had also arrived late joined in.

Later on, Gandhi lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Election Commission over "vote theft", asserting that he has more evidence and will reveal it soon.

The Congress leader alleged that a large-scale "vote theft" was taking place and claimed that democracy and the "Constitution are under attack".

Addressing reporters in Pachmarhi, Rahul Gandhi alleged that around 25 lakh votes had been "stolen," asserting that one out of every eight votes had been manipulated.

"Vote chori has been done clearly. Twenty-five lakh votes have been stolen. Every one out of eight votes has been stolen. After seeing the data, I believe the same has happened in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. This is a system of the BJP and the Election Commission. We have more evidence, and we will show it after some time," Gandhi claimed.

He further accused the ruling BJP of creating a mechanism to institutionalise electoral malpractice. "The main issue is of vote chori and SIR is a system to cover it up and institutionalise," he said.

The Congress leader also alleged that the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, and Chief Election Commissioner were jointly responsible for "attacking democracy and the Constitution."

"We have detailed information. We have shown very little as of now, but the main issue is that there is an attack on democracy and Ambedkar ji's Constitution and directly, PM Modi, Amit Shah, and CEC Gyanesh Kumar are doing it by forming a joint partnership. This is damaging the country, Bharat Mata," Gandhi alleged.

(with inputs from ANI)