New Delhi/Varanasi, November 2, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Amid the political row over voter deletions under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), BJP MP Sambit Patra on Monday defended the exercise, saying electoral roll revisions have been carried out since Independence to maintain accuracy and remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
Addressing a press conference in Varanasi, Patra said 12 SIR exercises had been conducted over the past seven decades, with 10 during Congress rule and two under the NDA government. He described the exercise initiated in 2025 under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as the 12th such revision.
“The SIR is conducted to maintain cleanliness and accuracy of electoral rolls. This is the 12th SIR. Ten SIR exercises were conducted during Congress rule and two during our government’s tenure,” he said.
Rejecting Opposition allegations over voter deletions, Patra said names of people who had died, shifted, remained absent or appeared more than once were removed as part of routine electoral roll cleaning. He also said the process aimed to ensure that only genuine Indian citizens were eligible to vote and remove alleged infiltrators.
The deletion of over 13 crore voters from the draft electoral list published recently has triggered a political confrontation, with the Opposition accusing the BJP-led NDA government of manipulating the electoral process.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that 13 crore votes had been stolen, Patra said, “If that were truly the case, what would the state of the nation be today? People would have been out on the streets, protesting.”
Patra also described the INDIA bloc’s anti-‘vote chori’ rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan as a “flop show”. He claimed that despite expectations of 10 lakh participants, the Opposition could not gather even 20,000 people and that more than half the venue remained empty. Leaders including Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Tejashwi Yadav and Farooq Abdullah attended the rally.
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