Congress calls SIR a tool to prolong Modi–Shah rule

• Jairam Ramesh claims the SIR exercise is disenfranchising genuine voters and undermining Article 326 of the Constitution

• His criticism follows reports of repeated objections by two election commissioners to decisions largely concerning electoral roll revision

• The Election Commission says differing views are part of institutional deliberations and its orders follow statutory procedures

The Congress on Friday sharpened its criticism of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, claiming that chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was using the exercise to entrench the political dominance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh described SIR as a “mischievous instrument” serving what he called the “Diabolical Duo”, an apparent reference to Modi and Shah.

In a post on X, Ramesh shared an opinion article published in The Hindu that questioned the revision exercise’s methods and implementation. The article argued that an initiative presented as a means of cleaning up electoral rolls had instead removed large numbers of genuine voters through methodological weaknesses and ad hoc changes to rules.

Ramesh claimed the exercise was undermining the letter and spirit of Article 326 of the Constitution and deliberately depriving crores of Indians of their voting rights.

His remarks came amid scrutiny of internal differences within the Election Commission. The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections at least 14 times over the preceding 10 months, largely concerning decisions and orders linked to SIR.

Responding to questions over those objections, the Commission said differences of opinion and observations were a routine feature of institutional deliberations. It maintained that all its orders had legal sanction and complied with established statutory procedures.

The INDIA bloc has meanwhile agreed on a joint programme of rallies and “save democracy” marches as it intensifies its campaign over the electoral roll revision.

On Thursday, Opposition leaders held a sit-in at Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, accusing Modi, Shah and Kumar of conspiring to undermine democracy through alleged “vote chori”, or vote theft.

The demonstration marked the opposition’s third consecutive day of protests against the Chief Election Commissioner and alleged electoral manipulation. Participating leaders said their agitation would continue until Kumar resigned.

With PTI inputs