Madhya Pradesh Congress chief alleges SIR exercise aimed at deleting voters to benefit BJP

Bhopal, Nov 6 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh unit Congress president Jitu Patwari on Thursday alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise being carried out by the Election Commission (EC) is an "attempt to delete voters" and help the ruling BJP.

Patwari said that the Madhya Pradesh Congress is closely monitoring the ongoing SIR process in all 55 districts of the state, and the party will make a detailed presentation before the media on November 8.

The Congress leader made this statement after chairing a meeting with party functionaries to assess reports received from across the state regarding the SIR exercise.

He stated that the Congress party would not allow the Election Commission to remove even a single eligible voter from the state.

“The SIR process is an attempt to remove voters from the list, but the Congress is keeping a close watch here in Madhya Pradesh. We will give a detailed presentation on this issue on November 8 and expose the BJP,” Patwari told reporters at the Congress office in Bhopal on Thursday.

Notably, the Election Commission has kick-started the second phase of the SIR process in nine states, including Madhya Pradesh, and three Union Territories (UTs) from November 4. The exercise will continue till December 4, 2025.

For this purpose, one Block Level Officer (BLO) has been deployed at each of the 65,014 polling stations across the state, who will go door-to-door with enumeration forms.

Under this initiative, BLOs will provide voter enumeration forms to electors at their doorstep. The claims and objections will be accepted until January 8, and after all claims are resolved by January 31, the final voters’ list will be published on February 7.

Meanwhile, Patwari also said that the Congress top brass and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday presented yet another fact regarding the alleged “vote theft” in the Haryana Assembly elections held in 2024.

“The Election Commission has maintained silence after Rahul Gandhi presented facts before the media on Wednesday, and the BJP leaders, including their ministers and chief ministers, are responding to that. It is very surprising that the ECI has maintained silence on it,” Patwari added.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Thursday also criticised the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the Congress leader made baseless allegations in an attempt to mislead the voters in Bihar, where the first phase of the Assembly elections was underway.

--IANS

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