Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has sharply criticised the Election Commission over its ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi, questioning the use of the term “VIP/marked electors” in an official communication.
The Election Commission’s Delhi office had clarified that notices issued to such electors do not automatically mean their names will be deleted from the electoral roll. It also said that no deletion can take place without giving the voter an opportunity to be heard and passing a proper, speaking and appealable order.
Kharge, however, questioned whether the terminology suggested that some voters were being treated as a separate category under India’s universal adult franchise.
“Is there now some Special Category of voters in India’s Universal Adult Franchise—VIP voters and ordinary voters?” Kharge asked in a post on X.
He further invoked the principle of equal voting rights, asking, “Isn’t this a violation of the constitutional principle of One Person, One Vote, One Value? Has the VIP vote become more valuable now?”
Prominent names among those served notices
Kharge pointed to several prominent figures whose names reportedly appeared among electors facing notices during the Delhi SIR exercise. These include former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar, former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and others.
According to the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer, notices are being issued where an elector’s name could not be linked to the electoral roll from the last intensive revision or where officials identified what they described as “logical discrepancies”.
Kharge calls SIR a ‘Frankenstein Monster’
The Congress chief also renewed his broader criticism of the SIR exercise, which began in Bihar and has subsequently been extended to other parts of the country.
“What started as SIR from Bihar has now knocked on Delhi's door,” Kharge said, arguing that the developments demonstrated why his party had criticised the process from the beginning.
He alleged that SIR was being used for “vote theft and dismantling democracy” and described the exercise as “a flawed process that has turned into a Frankenstein Monster, now trapping its own people!!” These are Kharge’s allegations; the Election Commission has maintained that the revision is intended to identify ineligible or duplicate entries and ensure that eligible voters are included.
Congress raises Bengal deletion figures
Kharge also cited the ongoing appeals process in West Bengal. He claimed that 93 per cent of decided appeals against deletions had been successful, resulting in 1,13,943 people being reinstated in the electoral roll. He questioned the basis on which their voting rights had initially been affected.
Jairam Ramesh separately criticised the SIR exercise, using the phrase “Method Of Disenfranchising Indians” to describe his party’s objections.
The Election Commission, meanwhile, has maintained that receiving an SIR notice does not itself amount to deletion from the electoral roll, with affected voters entitled to due process before any deletion.
