Will oppose implementation of SIR of voter lists in Kerala: Priyanka Gandhi

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said the party would oppose the implementation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in Kerala, just as it had done inside and outside Parliament.

Priyanka, who represents the Wayanad constituency, was responding to reporters' queries about the Election Commission of India's move to conduct the SIR of electoral rolls in several states, including Kerala.

"The Election Commission is planning to carry out the SIR of voter lists in many states, including Kerala, and we will strongly oppose it," she said. "Given how they (EC) conducted it in Bihar, we have fought against it in Parliament and outside it. We will continue to fight against it everywhere," the Congress MP added.

Calling the move "the only way of committing fraud and cheating in the election," she alleged that the SIR exercise, as carried out in Bihar, "undermines democracy".

"We have seen what they did in Bihar and how they implemented the SIR there. If that is what they are going to do in every state, then it is an affront to democracy, and we have to fight it," Priyanka said.

The Congress MP also said the party was hopeful of winning the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar.

Priyanka is on a two-day visit to Wayanad to inaugurate various development projects in her constituency. On Wednesday, she inaugurated the newly constructed building of the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Government Ayurveda Dispensary in Ernad, Malappuram district, which falls under her constituency, a party statement said.

During the day, she also inaugurated the Community-Based Disability Management Centre (CDMC) — for which her brother and predecessor Rahul Gandhi had allocated Rs 55 lakh under the MPLADS scheme — and several other development projects in Wayanad.

She arrived at the Karipur airport in the morning and travelled to Wayanad by road, party sources said.