Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan defends the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bhubaneswar, calling a clean voter list essential while criticizing opposition parties for creating anarchy over the ongoing verification process.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan Defends Electoral Roll Revision in Bhubaneswar
Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, asserting that a clean voter list was the "soul of democracy" and that names of infiltrators, deceased persons and duplicate entries must be removed. He also accused the Congress and opposition parties of attempting to spread anarchy over the exercise.
Speaking to reporters here during the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) "Save Democracy – Remove Anarchy" (Ganatantra Banchao – Arajakta Hatao) padayatra in Bhubaneswar, Chouhan stated that ineligible entries must be weeded out from electoral rolls. "A clean voter list is the soul of democracy. Names of infiltrators, deceased persons, and duplicate entries must be removed. The conspiracy by the Congress and the opposition to spread anarchy in the name of SIR has been completely defeated by the public... Infiltrators will neither remain on the voter list nor in the country," Chouhan said.
The march, which commenced from the Odisha BJP state headquarters and concluded at Vani Vihar, was also attended by Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, BJP National Spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi, and several state party leaders and workers. Addressing the gathering, Majhi and Trivedi echoed the party's stance in favour of the SIR exercise and criticised the opposition's campaign against the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The BJP’s campaign comes amid sustained opposition protests against the SIR exercise across the country, including in Odisha. The Congress and regional parties such as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have opposed aspects of the revision process, alleging irregularities and claiming that the names of eligible voters have been excluded from the rolls. On Friday, Congress general secretary and MP K.C. Venugopal announced the launch of a dedicated website, Iamvoterakshak.in, to enable citizens to verify whether their names were deleted during the SIR exercise and apply for restoration. Meanwhile, the ECI has maintained that all decisions concerning the SIR process were taken unanimously.
