Congress calls SIR a 'method of disenfranchising Indians'

The Congress on Monday described the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise as a "Method Of Disenfranchising Indians", amid concerns over 33.13 lakh notices issued in the national capital over discrepancies in details provided by voters in their enumeration forms.

Most of the notices were issued because the voters' details did not match information recorded during the previous Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls conducted in 2002.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh made the remark while responding to a post that questioned the inclusion of the late economist Bibek Debroy's name among voters who received notices over discrepancies.

Ramesh wrote "Method Of Disenfranchising Indians" and arranged the words vertically so that their initial letters formed "MODI".

His comments came a day after the Congress raised concerns over alleged large-scale deletions during the ongoing SIR exercise. The party described the process as a massive "Shah Instigated Removal" of voters and alleged that it amounted to an "assault on the Constitution".

The opposition party has claimed that there is substantial evidence showing that the deletions across states have disproportionately affected voters from economically and socially disadvantaged sections.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Ramesh said the Election Commission started the first phase of the SIR process in Bihar in June 2025. The second phase was subsequently launched in November 2025 across nine states and three Union territories.

According to Ramesh, 7.8 crore voter names were deleted during the first and second phases. He said this represented 13 per cent of the electoral roll that existed before the SIR exercise.

Ramesh said the third phase began in 16 states and three Union territories in mid-2026. Citing data from 12 states and two Union territories, he said 6.18 crore names had been deleted out of 36.06 crore voters in the ongoing phase.

Opposition parties have alleged that the SIR is intended to target voters who are not aligned with the BJP and its allies.

The Election Commission, however, has said the revision, being conducted after 22 years, is intended to remove ineligible voters and duplicate entries from electoral rolls and add those who are legally eligible to vote.  (with inputs from PTI)