Congress leader Pawan Khera addresses a press conference at the AICC office in New Delhi. File | Photo credit: ANI
Soon after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced a special intensive revision of electoral rolls in 12 states, opposition parties on Monday (Oct 27, 2025) questioned the need to “rush” to other states when the Supreme Court is already hearing a case related to the SIR in Bihar, where polls were held.
Opposition parties said the move should not become an “excuse” to exclude legitimate voters. Questioning the exercise, the Congress claimed that the intentions and credibility of the electoral body were under suspicion as neither the voters nor the opposition were happy with it.
“So far we have not received answers to the questions regarding the SIR conducted in Bihar. The situation was such that the Supreme Court had to intervene several times to fix the SIR in Bihar. The intentions of the Election Commission and the BJP, which has made the EC its puppet, regarding the Bihar SIR have already come out in front of the entire country,” Congress chief Pawan Khera said in a video message.
“Whenever SIR happens, Election Commission staff come to each house, add new voters and delete those that need to be deleted. But in Bihar, not a single voter was added while 65 lakh votes were deleted in the SIR exercise, which raises several questions,” Mr. Khera said.
The states and Union Territories where the SIR would take place are Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Of these, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal will go to polls in 2026. However, Assam, another poll-bound state next year, will not have an SIR now.
CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby said the Kerala Legislative Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution against conducting such an exercise when the state is on the cusp of local body and assembly elections. “The manner in which the EC has deflected all demands for transparency only confirms suspicions that they are acting at the behest of the ruling party and its nefarious conspiracy to manipulate voter rolls,” Baby said in a statement.
“Bihar Lessons for All”
CPI general secretary D. Raja said the EC, a constitutional body, has a mandate to ensure that every legitimate citizen can exercise his right to vote. “What happened in Bihar is a lesson not only for political parties but also for EC. They (EC) must ensure a level playing field,” Mr. Raja told The Hindu.
National Conference leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, speaking to reporters at his assembly office, said there were already concerns about the SIR in Bihar and the EC should not rush to other states.
“It is not yet clear whether this exercise will have any benefits. Let the elections in Bihar be completed, then we will see if it has been beneficial at all. Then we can talk about its implementation in the rest of the country,” Abdullah said.
Published – 27 Oct 2025 20:09 IST
