SIR: Congress to hold mega rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan in December

Amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Congress Party has launched an intensified offensive against the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that the process is politically manipulated in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The principal opposition party announced a mega rally in December at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan to protest the SIR exercise, which it claims undermines the sanctity of the electoral rolls.

The rally will coincide with the winter session of Parliament, signalling Congress’s intent to take the issue to both the streets and the legislature.

“In the first week of December, the Congress will hold a massive rally on this issue (SIR) at Ramlila Maidan,” said K. C. Venugopal, the party’s organisational general secretary.

Venugopal cited the Kerala Assembly’s resolution seeking to postpone the SIR exercise as an example of growing political unease. “Even the Kerala Chief Electoral Officer urged the Chief Election Commissioner to defer the process, saying this is not the right time to conduct SIR in the state,” he said.

Congress leaders accused the ECI of turning a deaf ear to opposition apprehensions. They alleged that the poll panel’s conduct increasingly suggests a partisan tilt towards the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

To mobilise public sentiment, the party has rolled out a nationwide “Signature Campaign,” claiming to have collected five crore signatures.

“If the voter’s right is taken away, we will all raise our voices — it is our duty,” said Pawan Khera, chairman of the AICC Media and Publicity Department, describing the drive as a direct assertion of democratic accountability.

Earlier in the day, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge chaired a marathon meeting with the leaders from 12 states to review the preparedness of of the party.

Kharge accused the ruling party of attempting to influence the process for “vote chori” (vote theft). He argued that the Commission’s handling of the exercise had further eroded public faith in democratic institutions.

“We firmly believe that the BJP is attempting to weaponise the SIR process for Vote Chori. And if the EC chooses to look the other way, that failure is not just administrative - it becomes a complicity of silence. Our workers, BLOs, and District/City/Block Presidents will therefore remain relentlessly vigilant. We will expose every attempt, however subtle, to delete genuine voters or insert bogus ones. The Congress Party will not allow Democratic safeguards to be eroded by partisan misuse of institutions,” Kharge posted on X after the meeting.

Kharge urged the Election Commission to “immediately demonstrate that it is not operating under the BJP’s shadow and remembers its constitutional oath and allegiance to the people of India, not to any ruling party.”

The party’s sharpened criticism comes in the wake of its poor showing in the Bihar assembly elections, where the NDA won a 202 seats compared to the Mahagathbandhan’s 35. Congress has since intensified its questioning of the Commission’s neutrality and transparency.

The SIR exercise is currently underway across nine states and three Union Territories. Assam, too, has begun a special revision ahead of its 2026 polls. As per the ECI, the second phase of the SIR began on November 4 and will run until December 4. More than 50 crore of nearly 51 crore registered voters have already received enumeration forms, claimed the ECI.