After Bihar drubbing, Cong targets EC again, alleges selective deletions in SIR

Following its defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections, the Congress, while targeting the Election Commission, on Tuesday alleged that the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was being used to delete votes of specific communities across several states.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi convened a review meeting at Indira Bhawan in the national capital with senior party leaders from 12 states and UTs, where the SIR process is underway.

Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, senior party leaders Salman Khurshid and KC Venugopal, AICC general secretaries, in-charges, PCC presidents, CLP leaders and AICC secretaries also attended the meeting.

Kharge said the party held “a comprehensive strategy review” and reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding the integrity of the electoral rolls. He accused the Election Commission of “deeply disappointing conduct” during the revision exercise, and said the panel must “demonstrate that it was not operating under the BJP’s shadow” and that its allegiance remained with the Constitution.

Kharge alleged that the BJP was attempting to “weaponise” the SIR process for “vote theft”. “If the Election Commission chooses to look the other way, that failure is not just administrative, it becomes a complicity of silence. Congress workers and local units would remain vigilant to expose any attempts to delete genuine voters or add bogus ones,” he said.

Venugopal said the general consensus across states was that the EC was “intentionally trying to delete the votes of certain sections of society”. He said the design of the SIR exercise itself appeared “targeted”, with the patterns witnessed in Bihar now surfacing in 12 states and UTs.

He also flagged the commission’s announcement of a separate special revision for Assam, calling it “a sinister attempt to undermine democracy”.

Citing the situation in Kerala, where local body elections begin on December 9, he said BLOs had been instructed to finalise voter lists on the very same day.

He noted that the Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution to postpone the SIR exercise, yet the EC was not listening. He said the BLOs were being pushed to extreme pressure, with some cases of suicide reported due to the workload.

“It is clear that the EC is working on behalf of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Venugopal said.

He said that the Congress would hold a massive rally in the first week of December at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi to expose the EC.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera also accused the commission of political bias, saying the experience across states showed that names were being selectively removed.

He said the policy used in Bihar was now being extended to other states despite the Congress flagging irregularities before the elections.

He recalled that the Congress had organised a “Voter Rights Yatra” in Bihar to highlight these concerns and pointed to five Supreme Court orders that, he said, reflected the Election Commission’s questionable approach.

Khera said that the Congress had collected five crore signatures in its nationwide campaign to defend voter rights. It was a unanimous decision to call a rally at the Ramlila Maidan. “If the voter’s right is taken away, it is our duty to raise our voice and we will continue to do so,” he added.