Amid the ongoing row over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), BJP National Spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari on Monday accused the Congress leadership of being “out and out” engaged in creating a fake narrative not to defeat the BJP but to mislead the people.
“As an accurate and updated voter list is the foundation of a transparent and fair election process, the SIR is essential and is being carried out by the ECI as part of its administrative right," Bhandari said.
"The confusion that the Opposition is spreading about this process is not only baseless but a deliberate attempt to mislead,” he asserted.
Countering Congress allegations against the ECI, Bhandari claimed that 2.8 crore dead voters, 3 crore absent voters, 6.3 crore permanently shifted voters and 1 crore duplicate voters had been removed through the exercise.
“By opposing a clean voter roll, Congress is assaulting the Indian Constitution,” he said and that “street anarchy cannot hijack democracy”.
“...More than 6 lakh Opposition booth agents filed zero complaints. That means nothing wrong or undue was done during SIR, and nothing undue is being done in SIR,” he asserted.
Citing data, Bhandari said 46.23 lakh voters in Uttar Pradesh, 34.81 lakh in Maharashtra, 26.945 lakh in Tamil Nadu, 24.17 lakh in West Bengal, 18.07 lakh in Gujarat, 16.40 lakh in Karnataka, 15.22 lakh in Andhra Pradesh, 9.22 lakh in Telangana, 9.75 lakh in Rajasthan and 8.46 lakh in Madhya Pradesh had been identified as ‘dead voters’ during the SIR and removed from the rolls.
“Does Congress want all these dead voters to exercise their votes in favour of their party? Does Congress want the ghosts of these dead voters to come disguised as living voters and be allowed to cast votes fraudulently? Strange is the claim of Congress and its allies who are opposed to SIR. Ye to public hai, sab dekh rahi hai, and they will not be misled by Rahul Gandhi,” Bhandari said.
Strongly rebutting the Opposition’s allegations over SIR, Bhandari further claimed that no negative change had been made to Form 6 and that the process had instead been made simpler for ordinary citizens.
“More than 2.37 crore young voters have been added to the list so far, and the voter database has been completely decentralised. The Opposition is hell-bent upon creating a sort of anarchy to mislead the people through fake narratives. When Congress fails to win elections, it creates confusion to mislead the people,” he said.
Bhandari also criticised the Congress for what he described as a lack of sincerity on national issues.
“It has time and again proved to be a party of doubting Thomases, even after our brave Army carried out surgical strikes against Pakistan-based terrorists in the past," the national spokesperson said.
"The Congress speaks only for a section of voters, not for the nation. The Congress has never kept the ‘Nation First’ and dedicated itself to the people. It now stands for a family as part of the core category of those practising dynastic politics,” he said.
“For Congress, development is an abuse, but appeasement of a section is a part of its electoral politics, and dynastic politics is an ideology for survival in politics,” he said.
Bhandari added, “That’s why ‘CONGRESS’ stands for spreading ‘Confusion over Nation’s Growth, Reforms, Economy, Self-Reliance and Security (CONGRESS)’. Its leadership under Rahul Gandhi, who has proved himself a political buffoon in the ‘politics of appeasement’, is aimed merely at seeking attention by misleading the people."