'Huge message for vote chors': Congress welcomes Supreme Court order on Bihar SIR

New Delhi: Opposition on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court order on Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar with the Congress calling it a "massive victory" for democracy and a "huge message" for "vote chors" (vote thieves) who "tried to distort" the electoral process in the state.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the campaign of millions of aware citizens, the Congress, and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi have "achieved its first success" through the intervention of the Supreme Court. "We welcome the decision of the SC given in the public interest. The fight will continue, we will not let the public's 'right to vote' be taken away," he said.

Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal, one of the petitioners against SIR, said they saw the SC order asking the Election Commission to publicise list of deleted voters with reasons and allowing Aadhaar, as an "important first step" in the fight against the "draconian and disastrous" SIR process.

"Our fight to expose the ECI’s malpractices and complicity in vote rigging will continue with renewed vigour," he posted on 'X'.

Venugopal also said, "it is heartening that in unequivocal terms, the court has ordered that machine-readable electoral rolls be made available in line with one of the central demands of Rahul Gandhi's press conference. We also welcome the insistence on swift declaration of the 65 lakh deleted names by the ECI which will no doubt go a long way in bringing much needed transparency to the SIR process."

He said the court rejecting the EC’s decision to not accept Aadhar is "also a major boost", since in a state like Bihar, it is the most widely held document by the poor and marginalised.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the Supreme Court has upheld the Constitution of India in a "categorical, convincing, and courageous" manner.

"It is a long struggle to rescue our Republic from the machinations of the Prime Minister and his drum beaters. But today's verdict of the Supreme Court on the Bihar SIR issue is a beacon of hope. It is a gigantic first step," he said.

Senior RJD MP Manoj K Jha said the SC has shown light at the end of the tunnel and ensured that there is transparency.

Trinamool Congress said on its official 'X' panel, "at last, the Supreme Court has given the EC the treatment it deserves for its opacity and arbitrary actions...This is a much-needed step towards transparency, accountability, and the protection of voters’ rights. For too long, the EC has functioned without adequate public scrutiny. This landmark order ensures that citizens can finally see, question, and challenge wrongful deletions."

CPI(M) General Secretary MA Baby said the SC directive provides "partial relief" but the debate over SIR "extends beyond mere revision", raising concerns about "systemic sabotage" in the voters’ list that could "undermine" democracy.

CPI(ML)L General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said, "the scale of exclusion is huge, time is short and most of the electors have been wrongfully penalised for no fault of their own. The onus of correction should also be put on the perpetrators of error. That is the principle of fairness, natural justice and transparency that the EC had invoked as guiding tenets for the SIR in its counter affidavit filed before the SC."