BJP’s Ramchander Rao slams Congress demand to halt electoral roll revision

Hyderabad:  Telangana BJP President, Ramchander Rao, on Tuesday criticised Congress leaders, including party President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, for demanding a halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls over allegations of alleged irregularities, calling the demand baseless and accusing the Opposition of misleading people with allegations of vote theft.

Speaking to IANS, Rao said the SIR process had progressed significantly and questioned the Congress’ demand to stop it without presenting evidence of alleged voter deletions.

“Congress leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, have time and again been asking for the SIR process to be stalled. In fact, the first phase of the SIR is over now. The second phase of the SIR for the remaining voters has been completed,” he said.

He added that Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were among the states where the second phase of the exercise had been completed, claiming that the overall process was now almost complete.

“How can it be stopped without any proof? Kharge or Rahul Gandhi, it is their demand to stop the SIR without any basis,” Rao claimed.

The BJP leader alleged that the Congress had failed to substantiate its claims that legitimate voters had been removed from electoral rolls. He claimed that neither the party’s leaders nor the individuals allegedly affected had provided evidence to establish where or how valid votes were deleted.

“They don’t have any basis for voter deletion. They make such demands to confuse the people of the country. Their claims of vote theft are an insult to the people’s mandate,” he said.

Rao also questioned the grounds on which the Congress was protesting, asking why the party had not presented specific evidence to support its allegations.

The BJP leader further defended Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), claiming that Opposition parties had accepted electoral outcomes in states where they had won using the same voting system.

“The EVMs they are raising questions about are the same ones through which they won in Himachal Pradesh and Kerala,” he said.

Reiterating the BJP’s stance on the matter, Rao alleged that the Opposition questioned the credibility of EVMs and the Election Commission of India (ECI) primarily when the BJP emerged victorious in elections.

He maintained that the allegations against the electoral process were false and reiterated that the Congress should provide evidence to support its claims rather than demand that the SIR exercise be stopped.