BJP attempting to ‘weaponise’ SIR: Mallikarjun Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday, 18 November, accused the BJP of attempting to “weaponise” the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise for “vote chori”, warning that the Election Commission’s refusal to act would amount to “complicity through silence”.

Kharge made the remarks after a high-level review meeting with leaders from 12 states and Union Territories.

“The Congress Party is unequivocally committed to safeguarding the integrity of the electoral rolls,” he said, adding that party workers, BLOs, and District/City/Block Presidents would remain “relentlessly vigilant”.

“We will expose every attempt — no matter how subtle — to delete genuine voters or insert bogus ones. The Congress Party will not allow democratic safeguards to be eroded by the partisan misuse of institutions.”

Top AICC in-charges, state unit presidents, Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leaders, and secretaries took part in what is being described as the party’s biggest internal meeting focused solely on the SIR process.

Kharge, former president Rahul Gandhi, and AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal held a review meeting with state unit chiefs, Congress Legislature Party leaders, and secretaries from 12 states and UTs where the SIR is underway.

"We held a comprehensive strategy review with AICC general secretaries, AICC in-charges, PCCs, CLPs, and AICC secretaries from the states/UTs where the SIR process is underway. The Congress Party is unequivocally committed to safeguarding the integrity of the electoral rolls," Kharge said on X after he chaired the meeting.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of the Bihar Assembly results, where the INDIA bloc made “vote chori” a central campaign theme. Rahul Gandhi had also led a march in Bihar against alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.

According to party insiders, Congress has also begun reviewing organisational preparedness in states where the SIR exercise is currently underway.

The SIR exercise is being carried out in West Bengal, Puducherry, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Rajasthan, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep.

West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will go to vote in 2026. Assam, another 2026 poll-bound state, will undergo a separate special revision.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has defended the scale and transparency of the process, noting that more than 50 crore out of nearly 51 crore electors have already received their SIR enumeration forms. Monday’s EC bulletin said that enumeration teams have covered 98.32 per cent of the 50.99 crore registered voters across participating states and UTs.

The second phase of the SIR process began on 4 November and will continue until 4 December, covering 51 crore electors across nine states.

With PTI inputs