Govt hiding behind technicalities on SIR discussion in Parliament: Congress

The Congress on Friday, 25 July, said the government is not clarifying whether or not there will be a discussion in Parliament on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. The party accused the government of "hiding behind technical reasons".

Congress MP and deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi made these remarks after Speaker Om Birla held a meeting of senior leaders of political parties, where it was decided that the House will function smoothly from Monday.

"We didn't raise the Pahalgam and Operation Sindoor as we had demanded that PM Narendra Modi should be in the House during that, but he is abroad and it's not possible," Gogoi told reporters in the Parliament House complex.

"We were demanding that the Bihar SIR be discussed in the House, but the government is not clarifying whether this issue will be discussed in the House or not. They are hiding behind technical reasons," he said.

Gogoi said the government is giving the excuse that if the electoral process is underway and is being carried out by the Election Commission of India, then who will respond to the questions.

"I would like to inform them that the Constitution provides solutions for everything. It depends only on the intentions of the government...," he said.

The opposition has been protesting in both houses of Parliament against SIR, alleging the EC's exercise was aimed at disenfranchising voters in Bihar ahead of the assembly elections.