Amit Shah backs SIR, claims 3 million ‘illegal infiltrators’ identified in 13 million erased voters

Union Home Minister Amit Shah addresses a public meeting during the ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy’ campaign in Hyderabad on Monday (November 2). | Photo credit: RAMAKRISHNA G

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday that the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise had identified about three million “unregistered voters”, whom he described as “illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh”, among the 13 million names removed from electoral rolls. He claimed that all these infiltrators would be expelled from the country.

Addressing a public meeting at MJ Market in Hyderabad after the ‘Save Democracy-Remove Anarchy’ march, Mr Shah claimed that of the nearly 13 million names deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR process, 4.25 million voters were registered at two different places, three million were dead and another one was duplicate. He questioned whether such names should continue to remain on the electoral rolls. “We need to remove the infiltrators from the voter rolls in the country or not?” he asked.

The home minister accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of defending the alleged three million “unenrolled” voters. “No matter how hard Rahul Gandhi or Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy may try, the BJP is determined to drive every infiltrator out of the country,” he said.

Mr Shah claimed that the Congress and other opposition parties were against the SIR exercise to protect “infiltrators from Bangladesh”, whom he described as their “vote bank”, and argued that only genuine Indian citizens should be included in the electoral rolls.

Mr Shah mocked Sunday’s joint rally of opposition parties in New Delhi, describing it as a “Save the Infiltrators” rally and urged BJP workers to fight what he called “fear-mongering” by the former on the SIR exercise through a door-to-door campaign.

The Congress was determined to stop the SIR while the BJP would continue to support it, he said. Mr Shah said the Center was ready to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the matter and invited Mr Rahul Gandhi to attend the debate. He said the Congress leader did not allow the Parliament to function. Looking at Mr. Gandhi, he remarked that while he might become Prime Minister in a “mock parliament,” he would never actually attain that position.

Defending BJP’s electoral record, the Union minister noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, 2019 and 2024 without any SIR exercise. He also refuted allegations about Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and asked how Congress won elections in Telangana, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh if the machines were faulty.

Turning his attention to Telangana, Mr Shah alleged that the Congress government had become an “ATM” for the party through the so-called “RR tax”. He accused the state government of failing to implement its six electoral guarantees and predicted that voters would reject the party in the next election.

Earlier, Mr. Shah led a foot march from Babu Jagjivan Ram statue near Nizam College on Fateh Maidan to the meeting place. Accompanied by senior Telangana BJP leaders, including state president N. Ramchander Rao, Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy and Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar, he marched amid tight security and chants of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. He arrived in a special plane from Delhi and was received by party leaders at the Begumpet airport. From there, he offered prayers at the Bhagyalakshmi Temple in Charminar before the program.

Published – 02 Nov 2026 19:28 IST