"Those opposing SIR taking wrong path": Rajasthan BJP chief Madan Rathore hits out at Opposition protest against CEC

Rathore said the SIR was aimed at ensuring that electoral rolls contain the names of eligible voters and asserted that only Indian citizens should have the right to vote.

"Those opposing the SIR are taking the wrong path and trying to create a false perception about the Election Commission in the country. Only a citizen of this country should have the right to vote," Rathore said.

He said people who come to India for employment or business but remain citizens of another country should not be entitled to vote in Indian elections.

"A person who has come from outside merely to benefit from the country, conducts business or works here, earns money and then returns to their own country should not have the right to vote here. It should not be someone who comes from outside, reaps the benefits and leaves, and then gains political power by being granted voting rights," he said.

Rathore also clarified that decisions regarding the electoral forms used during the revision process were the Election Commission's domain.

"As for Form 6 or Form 7, that is the Election Commission's decision, not ours. If you ask me about the technicalities, I would say that those decisions are taken by the Election Commission. My point is that we should decide who gets to be a voter in this country," the Rajasthan BJP chief said.

He also targeted Congress leader Sonia Gandhi while raising the issue of citizenship and voting eligibility.

"Sonia Gandhi became a voter first and a citizen of the country later. That is wrong. If the SIR had been implemented back then, Sonia Gandhi would not have been a voter because, if she was not a citizen of the country, how could she have become a voter in the first place?" Rathore said.

His remarks came amid a fresh confrontation between the Opposition and the Election Commission over the SIR exercise.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday led a march of Opposition MPs towards Nirvachan Sadan, demanding that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the other Election Commissioners meet them and respond to their concerns over the revision of electoral rolls.

The Opposition MPs were stopped by barricades put up by security forces outside the Election Commission office, following which Rahul Gandhi and other leaders staged a protest at the nearby Akashvani Bhavan.

Speaking to reporters, Gandhi accused the Centre and the Election Commission of undermining the electoral process and questioned why elected representatives were not being allowed to meet the poll panel.

"300 opposition MPs were removed from there, so I came here and sat. We just want to meet Gyanesh Kumar and the other election commissioners. We are all opposition MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and we just want to talk to them. Don't know why the Election Commission does not want to talk to us. Crores of people have voted for us. We just want to ask questions, but they don't want to answer," Gandhi said.

He further accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and others of undermining democracy and claimed that the Opposition was trying to "save the Constitution".

CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar said Opposition MPs were prevented from moving forward amid heavy security deployment and claimed that parties outside the INDIA bloc, including the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), had joined the protest.

The Opposition's protest is part of its broader "Save Democracy" campaign against the Election Commission and the SIR exercise.

The controversy has also intensified following an Indian Express report claiming that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised 14 objections during the SIR exercise. The Election Commission has maintained that decisions on the exercise were unanimous.

Opposition parties have also raised questions over modifications to Form 6, after the Supreme Court on Monday said that it had not approved any modified version of Form 6 being used for enrolment of new voters during the SIR exercise. (ANI)