New Delhi, September 22, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Tuesday compared the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to the Jim Crow laws of the United States, calling the exercise “exclusionary” and raising concerns over its impact on voters.
His remarks came after notices were issued to 31.63 lakh electors in Delhi during the ongoing SIR exercise.
Speaking to IANS, Chidambaram said the Election Commission of India’s exercise was “akin to the Jim Crow laws of the United States during segregation” and alleged that it was exclusionary rather than inclusive.
Jim Crow laws were state and local statutes in the US, primarily in the southern states, that enforced racial segregation from the late 1870s until the mid-1960s.
Chidambaram acknowledged that electoral rolls should be updated to remove the names of people who have shifted out or are no longer alive. However, he alleged that the current exercise was going beyond that and could disenfranchise voters.
Referring to notices reportedly received by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, he said the cases pointed, in his view, to a “systemic flaw” in the exercise.
He said the Election Commission should overhaul the process and make it more transparent and voter-friendly, while ensuring that no eligible voter is left out.
Chidambaram also backed Congress Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s “Chhatron Ki Goonj” programme, describing it as a platform for young people to raise their concerns.
Defending Gandhi amid a controversy surrounding the programme in Indore, he said satire was part of political discourse and referred to the use of satire against political leaders by political parties.
A political controversy had erupted after a comedian allegedly mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi while sharing the stage with Gandhi during the Indore event. Chidambaram said the programme would receive a strong response if organised in Tamil Nadu.
On the BJP’s questions over the inclusion of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s name in the 1980 electoral rolls, despite her not being an Indian citizen at the time, Chidambaram dismissed the issue as a “bizarre conspiracy theory.”
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