BJP's Sambit Patra defends SIR exercise, says 10 such exercises were held under Congress govts

Addressing a press conference in Varanasi, Patra said the SIR exercise beginning in 2025 was the 12th such revision in the country, with 10 exercises conducted during the Congress era and two under the present government.

"Today, from this land of Kashi, I would like to explain the 'SIR' (Special Intensive Revision) process to you and address the questions that have been raised, as well as the allegations levelled against us. One might ask: is the BJP conducting an SIR for the first time in 2025, following the formation of the government under the leadership of Narendra Modi in 2014? That is incorrect. This current exercise, which begins in 2025, is actually the 12th such SIR," Patra said.

"Why is this process conducted, and when has it taken place in the past? India is a democratic nation. In a democracy, the electoral roll determines who is eligible to votewho qualifies as a voter in India and who does not. From time to time, names need to be removed or added; the SIR process is carried out to ensure the integrity, accuracy, and purification of the electoral roll," he said.

Patra further said that 10 SIR exercises had taken place during Congress governments, while two had been conducted under the present government, arguing that the process was an established exercise rather than an attempt to delete voters' names.

Responding to allegations of vote theft by the Opposition, Patra also questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's claim that 13 crore votes had been stolen.

"As I mentioned, this is the 12th SIR10 such SIR took place during the Congress era, and 2 have been conducted under our government... Therefore, it is an ongoing process. This addresses the accusation that we are conducting an SIR to delete votes; it implies that while an SIR is acceptable when conducted during your tenure, it is somehow wrong when we conduct one as part of an electoral roll purification process," he said.

"Regarding your second accusationthat we have 'stolen' votes, with Rahul Gandhi even citing a figure of 13 crore stolen votesI ask you: if 13 crore votes had truly been stolen, what would India look like today? The streets of India would be packed with people, and mass protests would be erupting everywhere," he said.

His remark came a day after the INDIA bloc on Sunday held a mega rally at Delhis Ramlila Maidan against alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, with top Opposition leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, attending the event. (ANI)