SIR a conspiracy designed by PM-HM, executed by CEC, to snatch voting rights: Congress

Congress on Thursday alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was a conspiracy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to deprive large sections of Indians of their voting rights.

New Delhi:  The Congress on Thursday alleged that the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls was a “conspiracy” designed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and executed by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to ensure that very large sections of Indians have their constitutional right to vote snatched away.

The opposition party also reiterated its demand that CEC Kumar has to go, SIR has to be suspended and the ECINET portal has to be revamped.

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Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared on X a media report which claimed that in at least six states where SIR was completed or is ongoing, the number of suspected foreign nationals–roughly around 1,600 at least– detected till now is minuscule compared to the electorate.

“The Home Minister had said that SIR had a 3D objective: to detect, delete and deport infiltrators so as to ‘purify’ the electoral rolls,” Ramesh said on X.

What has SIR actually accomplished, he asked.

“In the six states of Karnataka, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Kerala, Goa and Mizoram, just 1600 foreigners belonging to different countries have been ‘detected and deleted’. Nearly 10 crore people went through the SIR in these states -to find 1600 ‘foreigners’,” the Congress leader said.

The other 20 states and UTs did not provide data because the ECI had not asked for any such data to be collected, Ramesh said and claimed that the Home Minister was lying.

In Karnataka, where 99.7 lakh names have been deleted, 716 foreign nationals were identified of whom 545 are from Nepal, he said.

“This only proves what has been evident all along: that SIR was always intended for ensuring that very large sections of Indians have their constitutional right to vote snatched away,” Ramesh alleged.

He claimed that SIR was a conspiracy designed by the PM-HM duo and executed by the CEC through various means, including ECINET.

“Gyanesh Kumar has to go. SIR has to be suspended. ECINET has to be revamped,” Ramesh said, listing the Congress’ demands on the issue.

The Congress on Tuesday had described the Election Commission’s affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as “deceptive, deceitful and duplicitous”, asserting that it is “extremely damaging” to itself.

Taking a swipe at the poll body, Ramesh had said, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. And when we have done it for a while, it comes out in a crooked style.”

His remarks came after the EC strongly defended SIR before the Supreme Court, maintaining that the exercise was authorised by law and the relevant orders were approved unanimously by all three members of the poll body.

Rejecting the allegations that Form 6 had been amended, the poll panel, in its 248-page response to the petition against the chief election commissioner (CEC) and the decisions taken by it, said that no changes were made to the statutory Form 6 used for voter registration.

Ramesh’s remarks come amid a raging row after The Indian Express reported that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders mostly related to the process of the SIR of electoral rolls.

The EC has said that differing views and observations are a part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.