Indian National Congress Alleges Voter Disenfranchisement Conspiracy

The Indian National Congress party has alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is a conspiracy orchestrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The party claims the process, executed by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, is designed to strip large sections of Indian citizens of their constitutional right to vote rather than removing foreign infiltrators.

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh cited data from Karnataka, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Kerala, Goa, and Mizoram to support these claims. Ramesh argued that while nearly 100 million people underwent the process, only 1,600 foreign nationals were detected. In Karnataka, he noted that 99.7 lakh names were deleted while only 716 foreign nationals were identified.

The Election Commission of India has defended the SIR before the Supreme Court, asserting the exercise is lawful and approved unanimously. However, the controversy follows reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected to SIR-related decisions 14 times over the last 10 months.