Irani accuses Congress of defending duplicate and deceased voter entries

BJP national general secretary Smriti Irani has accused the Congress of undermining India’s electoral system by opposing the Election Commission’s work on voter rolls. Speaking at the BJP headquarters on Tuesday, Ms Irani questioned why Congress leaders wanted deceased people and duplicate entries to remain on electoral rolls. She said the party was attacking constitutional institutions after failing to secure public support within the existing democratic framework.

Her remarks followed a Congress Working Committee meeting chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge. The committee demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, suspension of the Special Intensive Revision process and restoration of more than 13 crore names removed from electoral rolls. The Congress also sought the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the government of “match-fixing” elections.

Those demands were reported in the supplied material but were not accompanied by a response from the Election Commission in this account. Ms Irani said the Election Commission had already issued a clarification on the SIR process. She said Booth Level Officers would visit the homes of people who had received notices, collect documents and verify their status.

She asked why the Congress would seek restoration of names belonging to deceased individuals or duplicate entries if such records were found on the rolls. She also questioned whether the party believed the Election Commission was acting improperly in states where the BJP was not in power, including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Karnataka. Ms Irani said criticism of Prime Minister Modi should not become an attack on constitutional institutions or democracy.

She described the Election Commission as an institution representing the dignity of Indian democracy. The supplied report records the competing positions but does not independently establish whether any voter entries were wrongly removed or whether duplicate or deceased entries remain on the rolls.