SIR to detect, delete, deport infiltrators: Amit Shah in Lok Sabha

Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday rejected Congress-led Opposition’s accusations of “vote theft” and said the ongoing special intensive revision exercise of the Election Commission was meant to “detect, delete and deport infiltrators”.

Intervening in the debate on electoral reforms in the Lok Sabha, Shah said the reason the Congress was losing elections was not “SIR”, but its own “leadership”.

Shah accused the first family of the Congress — Nehru-Gandhis — of ‘vote theft’ and said the first ‘vote chori’ happened when Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, despite receiving 28 votes of provincial Congress committees, lost the position of independent India’s first PM to Jawaharlal Nehru, who received just two votes.

At this point, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi interjected and “dared” the Home Minister to debate the issue of “vote theft as raised by him in his three press conferences”.

“Parliament will not work on the basis of your whims. I will decide the order in which I have to say things. The LoP should have patience. I will answer everything,” said Shah, with the Congress-led Opposition MPs later walking out of the House, expressing dissatisfaction on his reply.

Shah earlier accused the Opposition of unilaterally spreading lies about SIR for four months.

“One day, Congress workers will demand answers from the Congress leadership for losing election after election,” Shah said, adding that the BJP, which spent most part in the Opposition, never blamed the EC or the EVMs for poll losses and always introspected.

The Home Minister, in a scathing attack on Gandhis, cited two other instances to stress his “vote chori” charge.

He spoke of late PM Indira Gandhi amending the Constitution to grant herself immunity after Allahabad High Court’s order annulling her election from Rae Bareli.

“That was a big vote chori. To hide it she brought a law that no case can be filed against the PM. The LoP talks of immunity to Election Commissioners...what does he have to say about Indira Gandhi giving herself immunity,” the minister said, adding that Indira Gandhi later bypassed three senior-most SC judges to appoint the fourth as the CJI and won the case.

Shah also mentioned a “dispute” in Delhi court alleging that former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had become a voter in India before she became an Indian citizen. Congress’ KC Venugopal registered his strong objection to this remark, with Shah saying he was only mentioning a fact.

The minister also said the real Opposition agenda behind objections to SIR was protection of illegal immigrants.

“The Congress does not get votes of legitimate voters and therefore it depends on votes from infiltrators, who too will now be deported from the country,” said Shah.

He said SIR was aimed at updating the rolls and ensuring only eligible voters stay.

“Voter lists are fine when you win, but when you lose, as in Bihar, you say there is a problem. These double standards will not hold,” Shah said.

In a dig at Rahul’s press conferences on voter lists, Shah said some families — a reference to Nehru-Gandhis — were “generational vote chors”.

Explaining why SIR was needed, the Home Minister said in 2010, the EC decided no names would be deleted from voters’ list.

“This led to discrepancies in voters’ list and to clean up the mistakes, SIR was necessary. There are several leaders whose names are registered as voters in more than one place,” Shah said, naming some Opposition leaders registered at two places.

'Outstanding': PM Modi lauds Shah 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lauded Home Minister Amit Shah's speech in the Lok Sabha saying he exposed the opposition's lies about the election process. The PM described Shah's 90-minute speech in the Lower House as "outstanding". "An outstanding speech by Shah. With concrete facts, he has highlighted diverse aspects of our electoral process, the strength of our democracy and also exposed the lies of the Opposition," Modi said on X.

Shah also replied to three questions Rahul raised — why CJI was removed from the selection panel for Election Commissioners; why in December 2023, government granted immunity to Election Commissioners and why CCTV footage of polling stations is destroyed after 45 days.

“For 73 years, there was no law governing the appointment of Election Commissioners. The process was overseen directly by the Prime Minister. From 1950 to 1989, the Election Commission was a single-member body and the PM was responsible for all appointments and these were never contested. From 1950-1989, the Election Commission was a one-person panel. The PM would send a file to the President. The latter would notify the same. It was fine then. From 1989-91, a multi-member panel was introduced to govern the poll panel. In 2023, we made a law saying the PM, a minister chosen by him and the Leader of Opposition in the LS will select the Election Commissioners. We brought transparency,” explained Shah. He said there was no discussion on EVMs in 2004 and 2009 because the Congress won. “In 2014, when they lost, they started complaining. Chunav main chori bandh hui hai isiliye pet mein dard ho raha hai,” Shah said.

Asked why the Opposition walked out, Rahul said, “The Home Minister’s response was defensive and he did not respond to the points we had raised. He did not speak about transparent voter lists, clarity on EVM architecture or the solid proof I had presented in my press conferences.”