HYDERABAD: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of conspiring to disenfranchise eligible voters, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday called the fight against alleged voter deletions under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) “another freedom struggle”,
Addressing Congress ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs at Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi as part of the ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ campaign, he called for a nationwide movement under Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and INDIA bloc leaders, with the slogans “Gyanesh Go Back” and “SIR Go Back”, on the lines of “Simon Go Back”.
Revanth alleged that SIR was being used to delete, rather than include, eligible voters, particularly minorities, Dalits, Adivasis, backward communities, the poor and young people.
He said earlier revisions, including those under Jawaharlal Nehru in 1950 to establish voter eligibility after Partition, and during the governments of Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had focused on inclusion.
He accused the Modi government of using SIR for political ends, as it had used the Enforcement Directorate, CBI, Income Tax Department and narcotics enforcement agencies against opponents. He also claimed that people criticising the BJP and Union government on social media could face deletion from electoral rolls.
Questioning the Election Commission’s independence, Revanth said the constitutional body must function impartially and warned that any erosion of public confidence would damage democracy. He recalled the introduction of a three-member commission during PV Narasimha Rao’s tenure and said the selection panel had earlier included the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and Leader of the Opposition. He recalled that the 2023 law replaced the Chief Justice with the Union Home Minister, raising concerns about the impartiality of appointments.
Revanth said Rahul had opposed Gyanesh Kumar’s appointment and was the first Opposition leader to flag the alleged threat of “vote theft”. He claimed the issue had since gained wider attention, including among sections of the ruling camp, citing senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. He questioned why Modi and Shah had not addressed demands for Gyanesh Kumar’s removal if the appointment was beyond reproach, and why protests against the Commission were allegedly being restricted amid heavy police deployment in Delhi.
The chief minister alleged that the BJP stood to benefit politically from the revisions and questioned whether electoral changes had contributed to its victories in states where it already had a political base. He demanded transparency and safeguards against the deletion of any eligible voter.
Citing electorate figures, Revanth said India had about 81 crore voters in 2014, 91 crore in 2019 and 97 crore in 2024. He alleged that more than 13 crore votes had been deleted in 2026, and the target was to raise the figure to 20 crore. Questioning how voter numbers could fall as the population grew, he urged the Election Commission to explain the figures and called on the President and Chief Justice of India to address public concerns.
He warned that the alleged deletions risked dividing citizens into those with and without voting rights. Claiming the exercise reflected a political calculation that wealthier people backed the BJP while poorer sections opposed it, he said it threatened equal citizenship and could reduce disadvantaged groups to second-class status.
Revanth accused BJP and RSS leaders of previously opposing voting rights for the poor, Dalits and Adivasis, countering that BR Ambedkar’s Constitution guaranteed equal voting rights across social and economic groups. Invoking the Gandhi family’s role in the freedom movement, he said Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against alleged vote theft was now a fight to protect democracy. He demanded an immediate halt to the removal of eligible voters and measures to restore confidence in the electoral process.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Mahesh Kumar Goud, AICC secretary Sachin Sawant, ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other senior Congress leaders. The delegation was in Delhi to participate in the Congress-led campaign, which the party and INDIA bloc pledged to continue.