Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused the Election Commission and the ruling BJP of using the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to “institutionalise vote theft”. Speaking at a training camp in Madhya Pradesh’s Pachmarhi, he said democracy itself was under attack through the manipulation of voter lists.
At a Congress training camp for district presidents in Pachmarhi, Rahul Gandhi claimed the SIR exercise was not an administrative update but a political cover-up. Vote theft is an issue, and SIR now, it is about covering it up and institutionalising the system," the Congress MP claimed.
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He alleged that 25 lakh votes were “stolen” in Haryana, nearly one in every eight, and added that similar patterns existed in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. "After looking at that, after looking at the data, I believe that the same thing happened in MP, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. And this is the system of the BJP and EC (Election Commission)," Gandhi said.
"We have more evidence, which we will provide gradually. But my issue is vote theft. The SIR now, it is about covering it up and institutionalising the system," he continued.
The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls began on November 4 across nine states and three Union Territories. It aims to update voter lists ahead of the next round of state elections, but the Opposition has criticised the timing and process. Gandhi argued that the move is meant to legitimise what he called a systematic erosion of voting rights.
Allegations of democracy under threat
Gandhi went further, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Election Commissioner Rajniv Gyanesh were working “in partnership” to weaken democratic institutions. “Democracy and Ambedkar’s Constitution are being attacked. Bharat Mata is being harmed,” he said.
He also hinted that more evidence of “vote theft” will be revealed soon. The Election Commission, meanwhile, has maintained that the SIR is a routine verification process, conducted to ensure the accuracy of voter data.
