Ram Madhav accuses Congress of spreading falsehoods over electoral roll revision

BJP national vice-president Ram Madhav on Tuesday accused the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi of spreading false information about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls because they were unable to challenge the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in elections, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

Madhav alleged that the Congress was trying to destabilise the country, undermine democratic institutions and create unrest to gain political power outside the electoral process. He asserted that people would not allow the Congress and its allies to succeed.

Addressing a press conference in Jammu, Madhav claimed that the Congress was no longer focused only on electoral politics but was seeking to create instability and distrust in constitutional institutions to bring about a change in government.

“Congress's objective today is not to come to power through democratic means or by contesting elections. Instead, it is attempting to create disorder in the country, undermine public confidence in our democratic institutions and use unrest as a means to capture power,” he alleged, according to PTI.

Taking exception to opposition leaders' references to regime change, Madhav claimed that the Congress was looking at political developments in Bangladesh and Nepal as models for changing the government in India. “When they talk about regime change, they are not referring to democratic regime change. Their own leaders are openly talking on television and social media about bringing regime change like Bangladesh and Nepal. Their intentions are clear,” he said.

He alleged that the Congress, unable to defeat the BJP and Modi in elections, was resorting to misinformation and attempts to create political unrest. “The people of this country will never allow the Congress Party, with its mindset of creating anarchy, to fulfil its objectives,” he said.

Referring to a Congress-led protest in Delhi, Madhav said, “If the Congress brings together 50,000 people to spread false propaganda, we will reach five lakh villages and inform 100 crore voters about the truth.” He also accused the Congress of trying to discredit India's democratic system, which he said had earned international recognition as the world's largest democracy over nearly eight decades of independence.

Defending the SIR exercise, Madhav described it as a constitutional process aimed at correcting electoral rolls by removing the names of deceased voters, people who had shifted residence, duplicate entries, people who could not be traced at their registered addresses and illegally settled infiltrators.

He said the Election Commission had filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court detailing the exercise and responding to allegations about the revision process. Questioning the Congress's claim that about 13 crore names had been deleted, Madhav challenged the opposition to produce people who could show that their names had been wrongly removed.

“Despite all the campaigning and propaganda by Congress, the party has not been able to bring even a single person onto a public platform who can stand up and say, ‘My vote has been deleted’,” he claimed. Madhav also said nearly 90 lakh people die in India every year and argued that periodic revision was needed to remove the names of deceased people and maintain accurate voter records.

According to PTI, Madhav alleged that the Congress was using the SIR controversy to hide its political failures and create suspicion about the Election Commission. He said the exercise had been completed in several states but remained pending in others and in Union Territories, including Jammu and Kashmir. Genuine grievances or discrepancies could be addressed through the Election Commission's prescribed procedures, he added.

“Every allegation being levelled by Congress against the SIR process is false. The process currently underway is intended to clean up electoral rolls and rectify irregularities through a constitutionally established procedure,” Madhav said. He maintained that the BJP would counter across the country what he described as the Congress's misinformation campaign against the SIR process, electoral institutions and the democratic system.- Ends