BJP and Congress Clash Over Election Commission Voter Purge
Smriti Irani defended the Election Commission of India after the Congress party demanded the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner over voter roll revisions.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress are locked in a dispute over the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Congress Working Committee passed a resolution demanding the immediate resignations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Congress alleges "match-fixing" between the commission and the government, calling for the suspension of the SIR and the restoration of millions of names it claims were wrongly removed.
BJP National General Secretary Smriti Irani defended the commission on Tuesday, accusing Congress of attempting to undermine India's constitutional framework to deflect from electoral defeats. Irani questioned why the opposition would want deceased individuals or duplicate entries restored to voter lists. She further challenged Congress to explain why it does not raise similar concerns in states where the BJP is not in power, such as Kerala, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka.
The conflict follows reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised 14 procedural and legal objections against Kumar's handling of the SIR, including claims that modifications to Form 6 were illegal. The Election Commission of India maintains that the revision process follows statutory procedures and has been upheld by the Supreme Court.
