BJP Defends Voter List Revision, Accuses Congress Of False Narrative

(MENAFN- AsiaNet News)

BJP Slams Congress' 'False Narrative' Over Voter List Revision

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Telangana President N Ramchander Rao on Monday said that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise is intended to disenfranchise legitimate voters. He clarified that the SIR process is a routine administrative measure designed to update and clean the voter lists across the country.

Speaking to ANI, Rao defended the ongoing SIR process, accusing the Congress party of fabricating a "false narrative" out of frustration over being out of power for over a decade. "The Congress govt during its period has also conducted SIR. Now, after 2002, the first SIR is being conducted in 2026, after a 24-year gap. Now, when the SIR is being conducted in the entire nation, the elections have also occurred in Keralam, where SIR was completed, and even Congress has won. The Congress party suddenly takes up the issue of SIR as if the SIR is meant for deleting certain votes. SIR is not for deleting certain votes, but it is only for including new voters and also deleting those who are dead and those who are duplicate voters. There is no objection in this regard. But the Congress party is trying to build up an attitude, and a false narrative is being given to the people. It is very wrong and false," he said.

He added, "Congress Party is frustrated because they have been out of power for the last 12.5 years; therefore, they are trying to create this false narrative."

Deletion Without Fair Hearing Strikes at Core of Democracy: SC Justice

The remarks came after Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said that the deletion of a citizen's name from an electoral roll without a fair hearing strikes at the core of India's constitutional democracy.

Speaking at the valedictory ceremony of the 19th NALSAR BRS Moot Court Competition in Hyderabad, Justice Bhuyan emphasised that the right to vote is fundamentally tied to Indian citizenship. "A citizen to be a voter and to vote is of the greatest importance and forms the foundation of free and fair elections. Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act 1950 permits deletion of an entry in the voters list. But only after the said voter has been given a reasonable opportunity of being heard. Except in the case of a dead man, the name of a voter once enlisted in the electoral roll cannot be deleted without notice and hearing," he said.

"From the persona of an Indian citizen, the right to vote or the right to be included in the voters list cannot be detached. It will be like taking out the soul from the body," he added.

He noted that the Indian Constitution does not provide for two classes of citizens, one class of citizens with voting rights and the other class of citizens without voting rights. "Any process which leads to wholesale disenfranchisement of Indian citizens, making them citizens without voting rights, in my view, would be outrightly violative of Articles 326 and 14 of the Constitution of India," he said.

He further noted that any procedure that leads to the disenfranchisement of millions of citizens and turning individuals into "second-class citizens" without voting rights is "intrinsically arbitrary". "If any process results in disenfranchising millions and millions of Indian citizens, making them second-class citizens in their own country, in the sense of being citizens without a voting right, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary. No amount of whataboutery can justify it," he noted. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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