New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) The BJP on Monday slammed the Congress for questioning the integrity of the Election Commission over the SIR decision and called the Opposition a “herd of dissatisfied souls”, alleging that they are targeting the poll panel over voter-list revision to find an excuse for their “impending electoral losses”.
It also accused the Opposition of hypocrisy, saying the same parties that have been claiming that SIR is against the Constitution are demanding the revision exercise in some of the states.
This came after the Congress questioned the Election Commission’s move to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Electoral rolls in 12 states and Union territories, including West Bengal, saying the poll body’s intentions and credibility are under suspicion.
Also, the CPI(M) took different stands in TMC-ruled West Bengal and in Kerala, where the Left alliance is in power.
CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim demanded that the voters’ list in West Bengal be published in a transparent manner following SIR and that his party will depute booth-level agents (BLAs) in every polling booth to ensure that names of genuine voters are not omitted during SIR.
But in Kerala, the ruling CPI(M) party’s state secretariat accused the Union government of “rushing” the SIR in the state with “ulterior motives” and warned that the exercise, based on voter rolls from 2002–2004, could disenfranchise more than 50 lakh voters.
Hitting back, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the opposition parties are like “‘asantusht atmaon ka jhund’ (herd of dissatisfied souls)’ and a “master class in hypocrisy”.
“It is evident from the fact that on the one hand they will say that the SIR is for stealing of votes, the SIR is against the Constitution, and it should not be done. On the other hand, the SIR is being demanded by the opposition parties in Maharashtra before the local body polls,” Poonawalla told PTI.
“Congress leader Tariq Anwar says we are not opposed to the SIR principally, and Kharge and the other leaders of the Congress say that the SIR is an attack on democracy… They are completely confused,” he added.
Poonawalla alleged that the Congress and other opposition parties are targeting the Election Commission and using the SIR as an excuse for the “impending losses” in the upcoming polls.
“They need somebody to blame,” he said and accused the Opposition of following the strategy of “divide, distort, create deficit of trust in constitutional bodies and provoke riots” in the name of SIR.
“If not, how can they themselves demand deletion of votes (names of the ineligible voters) in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana.” The BJP spokesperson termed the Congress and other opposition parties’ reaction to the Election Commission’s decision to conduct SIR an “attack on democracy” and alleged that they are doing so to “save their family”.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announced on Monday that the poll panel will conduct phase two of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union Territories between November and February.
The states and Union Territories are: the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Among these, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and West Bengal will go to the polls in 2026. Kumar clarified that in Assam, where polls are also due in 2026, the revision of electoral rolls will be announced separately.
Phase two of the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise will begin on November 4 with the enumeration state and continue till December 4. The EC will release the draft electoral rolls on December 9, and the final electoral rolls will be published on February 7.
Kumar said a separate provision of the Citizenship Act was applicable to Assam.
Ahead of the Election Commission’s press conference, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said his government will welcome the poll panel’s move to carry out SIR in the state.
“I don’t know the topic of the press meet. However, whatever instruction we receive from the EC, we will work accordingly,” Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of an official function in Guwahati.
“If SIR is announced nationwide, definitely we will welcome it. We have already conveyed our view to the central government in this regard,” he added.
The TMC said it has no problem with the conduct of the SIR exercise in West Bengal but asserted that it will “democratically protest” if any attempt is made to remove genuine voters from the voter list.
In a statement, the CPI(M) state secretariat in Kerala said the BJP-ruled Centre was “trying to subvert India’s democratic system by turning the Election Commission into a puppet.” The party demanded that the Union government withdraw from what it described as an “attempt to undermine the country’s democratic system”.
The Congress party’s Kerala unit president, Sunny Joseph, echoed the criticism, calling the SIR decision “unilateral and irrational.” Neither the voters nor the opposition are satisfied with it, the Congress’ media and publicity head, Pawan Khera, said in a video message posted on X, alleging that the “intentions of the Election Commission and the BJP, which has made the EC its puppet, regarding Bihar’s SIR have already come to light before the entire country.” PTI PK RT
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.