EC must immediately demonstrate it's not operating under BJP’s shadow: Congress
New Delhi (PTI): Upping the ante over its 'vote chori' pitch, the Congress on Tuesday said the Election Commission's conduct during the SIR process has been "deeply disappointing" and demanded that the poll body must immediately demonstrate that it is not operating under the BJP’s shadow.
Congress president Mallikrjun Kharge also alleged that the BJP is attempting to weaponise the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls process for "vote chori", as he chaired a meeting with key office bearers of 12 states and Union territories where the SIR is underway.
Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary organisation K C Venugopal participated in a review meeting with state unit chiefs, Congress Legislature Party leaders and secretaries of 12 states and Union territories where the SIR is underway.
"We held a comprehensive strategy review with AICC general secretaries, AICC in-charges, PCCs, CLPs, and AICC secretaries from the states/UTs where the SIR process is underway. The Congress Party is unequivocally committed to safeguarding the integrity of the electoral rolls," Kharge said on X after he chaired the meeting.
At a time when public confidence in democratic institutions is already strained, the Election Commission’s conduct during the SIR process has been "deeply disappointing", he said.
"It must immediately demonstrate that it is not operating under the BJP’s shadow and it remembers its Constitutional oath and allegiance to the people of India, not to any ruling party," Kharge said.
"We firmly believe that the BJP is attempting to weaponise the SIR process for vote chori. And if the EC chooses to look the other way, that failure is not just administrative - it becomes a complicity of silence," the Congress chief said.
"Our workers, BLOs, and District/City/Block Presidents will therefore remain relentlessly vigilant. We will expose every attempt, however subtle, to delete genuine voters or insert bogus ones," Kharge said.
The Congress will not allow democratic safeguards to be eroded by partisan misuse of institutions, he asserted.
After facing a severe drubbing in Bihar, where the NDA cruised to victory with 202 seats against the Mahagathbandhan's 35, the Congress has questioned the role of the Election Commission (EC) in the poll process.
The EC on Monday said more than 50 crore of the nearly 51 crore electors in the nine states and three UTs have received enumeration forms under the ongoing SIR of voter list.
In its daily SIR bulletin, the poll authority said 50.11 crore enumeration forms have been distributed in the 12 states and UTs. In other words, 98.32 per cent of the 50.99 crore electors have received the partly filled forms.
The states and UTs are: Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep.
Among these, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and West Bengal will go to the polls in 2026.
In Assam, where elections are also due in 2026, the EC announced a 'special revision' of electoral rolls on Monday.
Phase-II of the SIR exercise began on November 4 with the enumeration stage and will continue till December 4.
Last week, Rahul Gandhi called the Bihar poll results surprising, and claimed that the election was not fair from the very beginning.
Gandhi also said the Congress and the INDIA bloc would conduct an in-depth review of the outcomes.
The Congress also claimed that the results, without a doubt, reflect "vote chori on a gigantic scale - masterminded by the prime minister, the home minister, the EC".
Gandhi's poll campaign against the BJP in Bihar revolved around his "vote chori"(vote theft) allegations.
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Confident about Cong winning bypolls in Karnataka, guarantee schemes helping us: Siddaramaiah
Davangere (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday expressed confidence that Congress candidates will win both the Bagalkot and Davanagere South assembly bypolls in the state by a huge margin, as the government's five guarantee schemes will help the party.
Asserting that Karnataka's economy is in good shape, he accused the BJP of making negative statements for political gain.
The CM is in Davanagere to campaign for Congress candidate Samarth Mallikarjun, after campaigning for Umesh Meti in the Bagalkot segment for the last two days.
Bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies will be held on April 9. The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, respectively.
"I'm confident that we will win in both constituencies by a big margin because of our government's good work. Our guarantee schemes ('Shakti', 'Gruha Lakshmi', 'Gruha Jyoti', 'Yuva Nidhi' and 'Anna Bhagya') are helping us. The BJP opposed guarantee schemes because they are programmes for the poor and they always oppose such initiatives," Siddaramaiah said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said over Rs 1.31 lakh crore has been spent on the guarantee schemes so far.
Noting that there are two types of economic theory -- trickle-down economics and universal basic income -- the CM said, "We believe in universal basic income theory because Basavanna, Ambedkar, Gandhiji, among others, wanted the focus to be on eliminating the sufferings of the last man."
"Through the guarantee schemes, the government is providing benefits to the poor in society -- irrespective of their language, caste or religion -- directly to their bank accounts, without any interference from middlemen," he said, as he rejected the BJP's allegations of corruption in guarantee schemes.
Pointing out that the BJP also claims the treasury is empty because of the guarantee schemes and that the state is being pushed into a debt trap, Siddaramaiah said the state's finances were better managed compared to the central government and most of the states where the saffron party is in power.
Karnataka is number two in the country in GST collection and attracting investments. "Then how is the BJP saying that Karnataka's economic situation is not in good shape? They are making such statements for the sake of politics...Karnataka's economic situation is strong. The BJP is lying," he said.
He also claimed that prices of petrol, diesel and other essentials cost less in Karnataka compared to other neighbouring states in South India.
Karnataka's economy is strong and stable, Siddaramaiah said, as he questioned the Modi government over the falling rupee against the dollar, 'Ache din,' doubling farmers' income, and generating 2 crore jobs every year.
The CM also assured of more funds for Davanagere's development saying, "This is bypolls, not general elections. We will give more funds. We are in power and Congress will be in power for two years."
