BJP defends voter roll revision drive

metro india news  I hyderabad

Telangana BJP President N. Ramchander Rao has strongly defended the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, accusing the Congress, BRS and AIMIM of opposing the exercise out of fear that bogus votes would be removed from voter lists.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP state office in Hyderabad, Rao said the SIR is a constitutional and routine process undertaken by the Election Commission to register new voters, remove deceased voters and update voter details. 

He clarified that the exercise is neither a programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor the Central Government, but a legally mandated process that has been conducted multiple times in the country since Independence.

Rao alleged that Congress, BRS and AIMIM were deliberately misleading the public about the revision process. He maintained that the objective of SIR is to eliminate duplicate and ineligible voters while ensuring that no genuine voter loses their franchise. Raising concerns over alleged illegal infiltration, he claimed that fake voter registrations involving Rohingyas, Bangladeshis and Pakistani nationals had come to the notice of authorities in some areas, particularly in Hyderabad's Old City.

The BJP leader said the process remains transparent as Booth Level Officers and representatives of all political parties participate at every stage. He urged Telangana citizens to cooperate with the exercise and help maintain clean electoral rolls.

Congress has history of 'Vote Chori' and 'Seat Chori'

In a separate attack on the Congress party, Rao alleged that the party has a long history of what he termed "vote chori" and "seat chori." He cited historical instances, including Sonia Gandhi's voter registration before acquiring Indian citizenship, the selection of Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister despite Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel allegedly receiving greater support within the Congress, and the imposition of Emergency by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975.

Rao further accused previous Congress governments of compromising the independence of constitutional institutions by offering post retirement positions and honours to former Election Commission officials. Contrasting this with the BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he claimed that no such practices had been followed since 2014.

The BJP state president asserted that the opposition parties were targeting the SIR process due to political insecurity and expressed confidence that the BJP would emerge victorious in Telangana in the coming years.