Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav
PTI
New Delhi: The BJP on Friday said the Supreme Court's observation on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was a "befitting reply" to the opposition parties and demanded a "public apology" from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav for opposing the exercise.
It accused the Congress of adopting “double standards” on the issue, saying the main opposition party, which strongly opposed a proposal to link Aadhaar to voter IDs earlier, contending that people's citizenship cannot be determined on the basis of it, is now favouring it.
The top court on Thursday allowed the Election Commission of India to continue with its special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, calling it a "constitutional mandate". It also asked the poll panel to consider Aadhaar, Voter ID and ration cards as valid documents during the exercise.
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said following the apex court’s order, the Election Commission now has to include the EPIC, Aadhaar cards, and Ration Cards in the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar.
“This will save a vast majority of voters from being disenfranchised,” he said in a post on X.
Asked for a comment on the Congress favouring linking of Aadhaar to Voter IDs, BJP MP and national spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “This is called double standards.”
Calling the Congress' stand a "U-turn", he said the main opposition party had earlier strongly opposed linking Aadhaar to Voter IDs while some of its leaders had even approached the Supreme Court in the matter, contending that citizenship cannot be decided based on Aadhaar.
Patra said that the Congress is today asking to determine citizenship based on Aadhaar, taking an about-turn on the issue, because it knows "very well" that it is going to suffer defeat in the upcoming elections.
Another BJP national spokesperson, Gaurav Bhatia, said the apex court’s observations made it clear that the SIR is a process to bring transparency and fairness in voting.