New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was a “conspiracy” designed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and executed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar to ensure that very large sections of Indians have their constitutional right to vote snatched away, PTI reported.

Source: PTI via Coastal Digest

Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh shared on X a media report which claimed that in at least six states where SIR was completed or is ongoing, the number of suspected foreign nationals detected so far — roughly around 1,600 — is minuscule compared to the electorate, PTI reported. These are the party's allegations; the Election Commission has previously defended SIR as authorised by law.

“The Home Minister had said that SIR had a 3D objective: to detect, delete and deport infiltrators so as to ‘purify’ the electoral rolls,” Ramesh said on X. “What has SIR actually accomplished?” he asked, according to PTI.

Source: PTI via The Sen Times

“In the six states of Karnataka, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Kerala, Goa and Mizoram, just 1,600 foreigners belonging to different countries have been ‘detected and deleted’. Nearly 10 crore people went through the SIR in these states — to find 1,600 ‘foreigners’,” the Congress leader said.

~1,600Suspected foreign nationals detected in six states, per the report cited by Ramesh
~10 crorePeople who went through SIR in those six states, per Ramesh
99.7 lakhNames deleted in Karnataka, per Ramesh
716Foreign nationals identified in Karnataka, 545 of them from Nepal, per Ramesh

In Karnataka, where 99.7 lakh names have been deleted, 716 foreign nationals were identified, of whom 545 are from Nepal, Ramesh said. The other 20 states and Union Territories did not provide data because the Election Commission had not asked for any such data to be collected, he said, and claimed the Home Minister was lying — an allegation the government has not been reported to have answered in these reports.

“This only proves what has been evident all along: that SIR was always intended for ensuring that very large sections of Indians have their constitutional right to vote snatched away,” Ramesh alleged. He claimed SIR was designed by the Prime Minister–Home Minister duo and executed by the CEC through various means, including ECINET.

Listing the party's demands, he said: “Gyanesh Kumar has to go. SIR has to be suspended. ECINET has to be revamped.” The Congress had on Tuesday described the Election Commission's affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on SIR as “deceptive, deceitful and duplicitous”, PTI reported.

The Election Commission has strongly defended SIR before the Supreme Court, maintaining that the exercise was authorised by law and that the relevant orders were approved unanimously by all three members of the poll body. Rejecting allegations that Form 6 had been amended, the Commission said in its 248-page response that no changes were made to the statutory Form 6 used for voter registration, and that differing views and observations are part of deliberations in any institution, PTI reported.

Ramesh's remarks came after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders mostly related to the SIR process — a report the Commission responded to by saying its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.