BJP leader Ram Madhav has slammed Congress for alleging the Election Commission's voter roll revision is biased, accusing the party of spreading anarchy and attempting to damage public trust in India's democratic and electoral processes.
Ram Madhav Launches Scathing Attack on Congress
Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], November 3 (ANI): Turning up the political heat, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Vice President Ram Madhav launched a scathing offensive against the Congress party and its leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, accusing the opposition of fanning "false propaganda" around the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to chip away at public trust in India's democratic institutions.
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, the BJP leader alleged that having failed to secure mandate after mandate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress leadership is aiming to trigger a non-democratic, "Bangladesh- or Nepal-style regime change" by fueling street turmoil and system-wide scepticism. “Their leaders are clearly saying on TV and on social media that they want to do a Bangladesh-style or Nepal-style regime change. Their intentions are clear: they can’t defeat the BJP or Modi ji through democratic elections. That’s why they are spreading lies and creating anarchy in the country in whatever way they can. If possible, topple the government through that anarchy,” he said.
Allegations of Misinformation Regarding Electoral Rolls
He alleged that the Congress was attempting to undermine public confidence in the electoral system by raising questions over the Election Commission’s ongoing revision of electoral rolls. “That the Congress party’s goal today is not to fight elections or through democratic means. Rather, by creating anarchy in the country, by creating distrust in our democratic system in the country. Through that, their attempt is to capture power in whatever way, through an uprising,” Madhav said.
The BJP leader said that the exercise was a constitutional process and accused Congress of misrepresenting the reasons behind the deletion of names from electoral rolls. “The ongoing SIR process in the country has been completed in many states, including Jammu and Kashmir, and is still pending in other states. This is a constitutional process. All the accusations the Congress has made about it are completely false,” he said.
“Congress says that 13 crore people’s names have been removed. But the names that got struck off aren’t showing up. Nobody is saying, ‘My name was removed.’ Despite campaigning so much, the Congress party couldn’t even get one person on stage to say, ‘My name was struck off,’” he added.
Reasons for Voter Roll Deletions
Explaining the reasons for the deletions, Madhav referred to deaths and migration, saying that electoral rolls needed to be updated to remove entries that were no longer valid. “Around 90 lakh people die in India every year. About 1 crore people pass away. Now, 20 years later, when electoral rolls are cleaned up, the names of deceased people have to be removed. Around a few crore people’s names have been removed like this,” he said.
He further said that people who move from one place to another may have their names registered at more than one location, while Booth Level Officers visit households to verify entries. “A lot of people move, get transferred, and go from one place to another. Their name stays here, and it stays wherever they move to as well. So, their name has to be removed from one place, and that process is currently underway. The names of people who have passed away or moved and have their names listed in two places are being removed,” he said.
Security and Illegal Migration Concerns
Madhav also alleged that the exercise would identify names of people who had entered India illegally, including Rohingyas, and questioned whether Congress wanted such individuals to retain voting rights. “A lot of people have illegally come into India from neighbouring countries. They’ve settled down in Jammu. Rohingyas have settled here. Such people’s names are being removed. Does Congress want infiltrators to have the right to vote in India? Or does Congress want to keep the names of the dead on the list so they can try to cast votes in this country using those names?” he said.
Responding to a question about the possibility of eligible voters being wrongly removed, he claimed that around 6 crore names belonged to people who had shifted elsewhere. “As for the rest of the one or two crore names, a special process is currently underway for them through the SIR. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are going door to door. We’re checking these cut-off names and processing their re-enrollment too. Besides that, people can also use this option. They can do re-enrollment or fresh enrollment through Form 6 or Form 8,” he said.
Madhav further claimed that around 2.5 crore new voters had been added to electoral rolls over the last 10 years, rejecting the allegation that the exercise was aimed at removing genuine voters. “Two and a half crore new voters have also been added to the voter list. So, if we want to remove genuine voters, why are new voters being added? What is the government’s real intention in removing genuine voters? This is all just fake propaganda. Whatever issues there are, the Election Commission is completely fixing them through its own system,” he said.
Historical Context and Future Campaigning
The BJP Vice President also accused Congress of having a history of manipulating elections, citing the Allahabad High Court judgment concerning former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the 1987 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. “Today, Congress is accusing the Modi government of tampering with the election process. Let me remind you, there have been two Prime Ministers in this country who tampered with the electoral system. One was Indira Gandhi, who the Allahabad High Court, through a judgment, told that she won the election by misusing the official machinery. In response, she imposed an emergency on the country and murdered its democracy,” he said.
Referring to the 1987 Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Madhav alleged that the then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had manipulated the electoral process. “After that, you are the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and you all know what happened in this state in 1987. Assembly elections were held. In that election, Farooq Abdullah and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Farooq Abdullah was the Chief Minister here- both of them together messed up that election so much, and after that mess, how the terror started, you all know the whole story,” he said.
He also referred to Congress’s allegations against Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), questioning the party’s claims that the machines were responsible for its electoral defeats. Madhav said Congress had lost the 2014, 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as well as 56 Assembly elections between 2014 and 2024, and argued that the party was blaming the Election Commission to cover up its electoral setbacks. “Out of all the assembly elections held in this country between 2014 and 2024, Congress lost 56 of them. 56. They lost all three parliamentary elections—2014, 2019, and 2024. Gyanesh Kumar wasn’t even around back then. How did they lose? So, to cover up their failures, they’re blaming the Election Commission, crying foul about stolen votes, and blaming the government—this is the kind of political game the Congress is playing right now,” he said.
He further cited elections conducted using ballot papers to counter Congress’s demand for a return to the ballot-paper system. Referring to the Silchar corporation election in Assam, he claimed that Congress won only two of the 42 wards. Madhav also referred to the MLC elections, saying that out of 28 seats contested through ballot papers, BJP and its allies won 16, with the BJP winning 13 and Congress securing one seat. He said these results showed that educated voters were not accepting Congress’s allegations against the electoral system.
"MLC elections were held on 28 seats through ballot papers, BJP allies won 16 seats, BJP itself won 13, and Congress alone could win one seat. The MLC elections were for educated people, they were for graduates and teachers. The educated class in this country, whether in Congress-ruled states like Karnataka or Maharashtra, or in our BJP-ruled states like UP and other states, educated people there are also not accepting this Congress campaign," he said.
The BJP leader also criticised Congress for not participating in parliamentary discussions on the issue. “The government said they would hold a special session and invited them to come to Parliament and debate. But they don’t want to come to Parliament, and they don’t want Parliament to function. Instead, they’re trying to confuse the public by spreading false propaganda like this,” he said.
Madhav alleged that Congress was attempting to damage India’s democratic image internationally and said, “Congress has no argument. Congress is trying to run a campaign against this SIR based on lies. As I said, when you have no argument, there is a saying in Sanskrit: 'Shesham kope na purayata'. When you have nothing to say, you start abusing,” he said. He added that the BJP would reach out to voters across the country to explain its position on the SIR exercise.
“If Congress gathers fifty thousand people from all over the country at Ramlila Maidan just to spread false propaganda, then we, the country’s… We will go to 5 lakh villages and tell 100 crore Indian voters that this campaign is fake. Congress is a huge threat to the country’s democracy. Congress is going to spread anarchy in the country. We are going to campaign across the whole country for a month,” he said. (ANI)
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