Pune, Nov 5 BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda on Thursday accused the Congress and other Opposition parties of spreading misinformation about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to cover up their poll failures.
The SIR exercise was a routine process aimed at ensuring the integrity of voter lists, the Kendrapara Lok Sabha MP asserted.
Addressing a press conference in Pune, Panda said the SIR was not a new exercise and had been conducted 12 times since Independence.
He said the previous such revision took place around 20 years ago, and the current exercise was being undertaken as part of the regular electoral process.
“The Opposition, particularly the Congress, is trying to create confusion about SIR to hide its electoral failures. They are attacking the credibility of institutions instead of introspecting on why they have repeatedly lost elections,” he said.
Panda claimed that around 13 crore voters had been identified under categories of absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD) during the exercise.
“Of these, approximately 6.3 crore, or 48 per cent, had permanently shifted, 2.8 crore were deceased and around one crore were duplicate entries. The remaining three crore cases could not be verified despite repeated attempts by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and representatives of political parties,” Panda said.
“Under the rules, BLOs are required to visit every household three times. Representatives of different political parties have also participated in the verification exercise. Despite this, around three crore people remain unverified. The question is why they are not coming forward to establish their identity,” he asked.
Alleging that these unverified cases could involve illegal immigrants, he claimed that such people were unable to establish their identity and residential details.
Genuine Indian citizens, whose names might have been inadvertently deleted, still had an opportunity to get themselves verified and included in the electoral rolls, the BJP leader added.
“There is no obstacle in the process. People can verify their details online or approach the authorities. Even now, if a genuine citizen’s name has been deleted for any reason, there is an opportunity to get it restored. Around 97 per cent of cases flagged for logical discrepancies had been resolved, and 96 per cent of previously unmapped voters had been mapped,” he said.
Responding to a question on the Opposition’s campaign against SIR and its possible impact on upcoming Assembly elections, he said the BJP was taking the issue to people through press conferences, public interactions, and outreach programmes in colleges and universities.
The Opposition had earlier raised questions about electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the Constitution, but had failed to substantiate its allegations, Panda pointed out.
“India’s electoral system is robust. Other countries have also sought expertise from India to strengthen their own electoral systems. It is the responsibility of every citizen to defend the country’s institutions when they face baseless allegations,” he said.
Responding to a question on why BJP is issuing clarifications when allegations are made against the Election Commission, he said the EC is a victim of a false narrative spread by the Opposition.
“As a national party, it is a responsibility (of BJP) to defend these institutions. The same Opposition had questioned our armed forces when they carried out surgical strikes across the border. The same Opposition is now targeting ECI,” he said.
On the BJP’s electoral setbacks in Pune and Nagpur divisions in the recent Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, Panda said the party would introspect and undertake course corrections wherever necessary.
“Victories and defeats are part of politics. Whenever we lose, we introspect, reach out to people and try to convince them. That is how the BJP has grown,” he said.
Panda also expressed confidence that differences between the BJP and its Mahayuti ally Shiv Sena would be resolved, saying the alliance would continue to work towards providing a stable government in Maharashtra.
(PTI News)
