New Delhi [India], November 18 (ANI): The Congress party meeting is underway at the party’s headquarters, Indira Bhawan, in the national capital to review preparations related to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 12 States and Union Territories, days after the party suffered a disappointing result in the Bihar Assembly elections.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is chairing the meeting along with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Senior leaders, including AICC General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal, AICC in-charges of the concerned States, Congress Legislature Party leaders, Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs, and CWC members from those States are in attendance.
Former Union Minister P Chidambaram and senior leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury were among the early arrivals.
The Congress has linked today’s review directly to what it alleges is a pattern of “voter theft” during recent Bihar elections. The Mahagathbandhan, which included the RJD, Congress, CPI(ML)(L), CPI(M) and other Left partners, secured 34 seats in total, in which RJD won 25 seats, INC won 6 seats, CPI(ML)(L) secured two seats, and CPI(M) won one seat.
In contrast to the National Democratic Alliance’s tally, where the BJP won 89 seats, the JD(U) won 85, and other allies, including the LJP (RV), HAM (S), and RLM, secured 28 seats collectively.
Speaking to ANI ahead of the meeting, senior Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir accused the Election Commission of presiding over an electoral process that “lacks transparency.”
“SIR is an official way to commit (vote) theft. Seventy lakh votes were deleted in Bihar. Addition and subtraction of votes were seen during polling. This is not a transparent way of electioneering,” Mir alleged. He also criticised the Bihar government’s welfare announcements during the election cycle, stating the timing had “influenced” the poorest voters.
Hitting out at the Election Commission, Congress MP Manickam Tagore called the SIR “an attack on the democratic process itself.”
“SIR is an attack on the democratic process itself in the name of deleting the names of dead voters and others, it (SIR) has been pushed by the BJP and implemented by the Election Commission. Following the SIR in Bihar, 62 lakh voters have been deleted… Our BLAs are on the ground and mobilising voters to get their names enrolled. This is a huge process with very little time, and there is immense pressure on the BLOs. We have seen various incidents of suicide in Rajasthan and Kerala. There is a strike in Tamil Nadu by all the BLOs today,” Tagore said.
Tagore added that the SIR exercise in Assam was allegedly being used “to delete Congress voters,” calling it a “conspiracy to save the Himanta Biswa Sarma government,” which he claimed was facing public discontent.
“There is a lot of pressure on those officers on the ground, and the Election Commission, without any kind of practicality, they are pushing for it, and in Assam, SIR is helping the BJP to delete the Congress voters. This is a conspiracy to save the Himanta Biswa Sarma government in Assam because this government is unpopular, we all know that and they are going to be defeated by the people of Assam,” Tagore told ANI.
Reacting to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting, Chhattisgarh Congress President Deepak Baij asserted that the Committee is “very serious on the issue of SIR” and will work ahead on this following the directions of the AICC.
“AICC has called a meeting of all states where SIR is being conducted; They will guide us on it. Congress workers at every booth, sector and mandal are alert. In Chhattisgarh, BJP leaders are trying to scare the BLOs. Chhattisgarh Congress Committee is very serious on the issue of SIR, and we will work ahead on this following the directions of AICC,” Baij told ANI.
After Bihar, the second phase of the SIR revision of electoral rolls is underway in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
Of these, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry will be contesting the Assembly elections in April-May next year (2026).
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
