Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh on Friday expressed strong backing to the Election Commission's current Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, stating that the move is both constitutional as well as necessary for protecting the integrity of democratic elections.
The SIR phase is intended to remove names of foreigners, duplicate entries, and persons settled abroad permanently from the voter list.
Singh queried the intension of the protests by the opposition and referred to increasing popular support for the revisionist cause.
Talking to the media, he stated, "Should we conduct elections with dummy voters? The Election Commission has decided that a special intensive revision will be done, under which only those who are not citizens of this nation will be excluded from the voting. The names of those who have been registered as voters in two places will be struck off. Why should the names of such persons who are living abroad permanently be kept on the voter list here? The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is Constitutionally valid. It will make democracy's roots strong, and hence it is imperative. The voters of the country also approve of it. Why are you (opposition) fear-stricken?"
Seconding Singh's comment, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi brushed aside the objections by the opposition and said that questions regarding the Election Commission and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) arise when any political party sees electoral defeat in its future.
Joshi said, "SIR has occurred previously as well. It also began after Rahul Gandhi sent a letter to the Election Commission following the Maharashtra Elections. When they lose, they question the EC, EVM. They discussed the constituency of Karnataka. Was everything fine at the 2023 (Karnataka) elections?. Siddaramaiah's government ruled in 2024, if there is any discrepancy, ask him. They say they boycott elections (Bihar) because they are sure they will lose."
Aparantly, the members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) went ahead and protested for the fifth day in a row on Friday against the SIR process in election-bound Bihar. The protest was conducted at the Makar Dwar of Parliament and saw participation from some key Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.
Prior to the day's Parliament sitting, the protesting MPs staged a procession from the Gandhi statue within the premises, waving posters and a big banner with the words "SIR – Attack on Democracy." They raised slogans such as "Modi sarkar down down" and "Stop the attack on democracy" and symbolically ripping down posters to show their rejection of voter roll revision.
Addressing reporters prior to the protest, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge stated, "We are protesting against that only (Special Intensive Revision exercise)."
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