Special revision of electoral rolls: Congress calls it 'sinister' move to deprive lakhs of franchise

'The unnecessary haste, and their absolute refusal to address genuine concerns raised by the Opposition, points to this being a clear effort to destroy the electoral system in Bihar', K C Venugopal, said.

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday alleged that the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar is a "sinister exercise" to deprive lakhs of voters of their franchise and a clear effort to "destroy" the electoral system in the state.

On Wednesday, leaders of several I.N.D.I.A. bloc parties met the EC over the SIR issue and raised concerns over its timing, alleging that over two crore voters of the state may be disenfranchised by this mammoth exercise being done just ahead of assembly elections.

The Election Commission on Thursday said it has decoded the entire exercise to a group of opposition parties to assuage their fears.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge organisation, K C Venugopal, said, "This government specialises in giving people hell. The SIR is a sinister exercise to deprive lakhs of voters of their franchise."

"The unnecessary haste, and their absolute refusal to address genuine concerns raised by the Opposition, points to this being a clear effort to destroy the electoral system in Bihar," he said.

"We will not let this go through. They must halt this ridiculous exercise immediately," Venugopal said.

The EC had met representatives of various political parties here on Wednesday and heard their concerns, issues and queries raised by them and "decoded for them the entire special intensive revision".

Representatives of the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, DMK, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, Communist Party of India and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackrey) had met the poll panel.

The EC told the parties that the exercise is being held in a planned, structured and phased manner to facilitate the inclusion of all eligible citizens.