BJP slams Rahul over SIR and accuses opposition parties of damaging institutions

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi. File. | Photo credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday (September 27, 2026) pitted its chief ministers and stepped up its attack on the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, the Congress and its allies over the Special Intensive Review (SIR), accusing them of making baseless claims.

The BJP says Mr Gandhi and other opposition leaders conspired to defame the country’s constitutional institutions and said the Election Commission of India had already issued a press release and a factual explanation of the “concocted allegations”.

“Despite this, the Congress and its allies, frustrated by their repeated electoral defeats, remain bent on undermining constitutional propriety in an attempt to cover up their failures. From North to South and from East to West, this disinformation aimed at weakening the country’s democratic framework and creating anarchy across the country is being vigorously combated,” the party said in a statement.

Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath, Devendra Fadnavis, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Bhajan Lal Sharma, Bhupendra Patel, Nayab Singh Saini, Vishnu Deo Sai, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Rekha Gupta, Samrat Choudhary, Mohan Yadav and Suvendu Adhikari hit out at the Congress. In states where the BJP is not in power, state presidents or leaders of the opposition have addressed press conferences.

Mr. Fadnavis accused Mr. Gandhi of trying to discredit institutions under the guise of defending the Constitution and deliberately creating confusion and chaos by repeatedly questioning constitutional bodies. “There was no theft of votes; Rahul Gandhi’s mind was stolen,” he said.

Mr. Adityanath alleged that the opposition parties had created confusion over the SIR and demanded an apology from the Congress and its allies.

Mr Sarma described the opposition as an “alliance of defeated people”, while Mr Yadav alleged that Mr Gandhi was spreading lies after failing to lead his party.

Mr Sai said that “frustrated after losing more than 100 elections”, the Congress had now “resorted to anti-national behaviour”. The Electoral Commissioners’ press release exposed her “lies”, he said.

Demanding an apology, Ms Gupta accused the opposition of “creating this baseless controversy to divert attention from her failures, her betrayal of the country and the ongoing development work”.

Criticizing the “double standards” of the Congress, Mr Patel said that when the Congress won elections, it celebrated the result as a victory for democracy, but after losing, it would make baseless allegations of vote-stealing and rigged elections.

Mr. Choudhary said the “cleansing” of the electoral roll was necessary because “cab capture” was no longer happening in the country. Mr. Adhikari said the Congress supported SIR in Kerala because it had won there, but was against it in West Bengal after losing the elections. He said court officials were dealing with names that were rejected due to logical inconsistencies, adding that the opposition was misleading the public.

Published – 27 Sep 2026 22:03 IST