Congress spreading lies on SIR

Metro India News | Hyderabad : Telangana BJP president N. Ramchander Rao on Tuesday accused the Congress and INDIA bloc parties of spreading misinformation about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and creating unnecessary doubts about the Election Commission.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP state headquarters, Rao said opposition leaders were falsely projecting differences among the Election Commissioners. Referring to a recent office note by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, he said it clarified that there were no differences among them.

Rao also hit out at the Congress over its criticism of EVMs, alleging that the party raises questions over the electoral process when it loses elections but accepts the same system when it wins.

“Does this mean EVMs are good when they win and bad when they lose?” Rao asked, recalling the Congress-led criticism of EVMs in the past.

He also cited instances of former Election Commission officials receiving post-retirement appointments or awards during earlier Congress-led governments, arguing that the present selection mechanism was designed to strengthen the independence of the poll panel.

Rao alleged that Congress leaders’ current opposition to SIR contradicted earlier statements by some of its senior leaders, including Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sachin Pilot and Kerala leader Ramesh Chennithala.

He said the objective of SIR was to clean up electoral rolls and prevent bogus or duplicate entries while protecting the voting rights of genuine voters. He appealed to the public not to believe what he termed “false propaganda” against the exercise.