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Former MP KC Tyagi quits JD(U)His exit comes amid shifting political currents within the JD(U) and its alliances, and is being viewed in political circles as an indication of possible churn within the party’s senior leadership Published on: Mar 17, 2026 6:01 PM IST By Sanjeev K Jha
JP Nadda says ECI has mandate to conduct SIR, dismisses opposition pro-ballot paper stand
In a Rajya Sabha debate on electoral reforms, the government defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters, calling it a long-standing practice dating back to 1952 and aimed at purifying voter lists, not targeting specific communities.
Government countered the Opposition attacks on the Election Commission of India- especially on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)- in the Rajya Sabha during the Election Reforms discussion, insisting that these measures are not new or aimed at weeding out certain sections of voters and will strengthen democracy.
Replying to the 10-hour discussion on Tuesday, Leader of the House JP Nadda said, “They keep asking why SIR? This SIR is not new, the process started in 1952. It was held in 1952, 1957 and 1961 when Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister. Then in 1965 when Lal Bahadur Shastri was PM, in 1983 when Indira Gandhi was PM, 1987-89 when Rajiv Gandhi was PM, 1992 when Narasimha Rao was PM, 2002 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM, and in 2004 when Manmohan Singh was PM. So apart from Vajpayee, all SIRs took place during your (Congress rule).”
He made the point that the last SIR was held in 2004 and was due. It is just a method to correct the “vitiated voters list and for its purification” he added.
On Opposition allegations of ‘Vote Chori” and biased SIR, Nadda said the Election Commission has the mandate to conduct SIR.
The BJP leader specifically mentioned the case of West Bengal, saying the SIR in the state in 2002 showed an increase in registered voters from 4.8 crore to 7.63 crore.
“Secondly, ECI data shows that the top ten districts with the highest increase in voters are on the border with Bangladesh. This (SIR) is not a matter of winning or losing elections but of the country… Minimum increase in voters list is 70% and highest increase is crossing 100%. IN Uttar Dinajpur district the increase was 105.49%, followed by Malda with 94.8%. In three districts- Murshidabad (increase of 87.65%), 24 Parganas (increase of 83.30%) and Jalpaiguri (83.2%),” Nadda said.
He underlined that in West Bengal, the increase in voter percentage of a particular community is 7.5%, alluding to Muslims.
Reiterating the words of Home Minister Amit Shah, Nadda asked if ECI should not “detect, delete and if need be deport” such people (“infiltrators”) from the country.
“Should the country run on the vote of infiltrators or the vote of the citizens of this country? If the latter, should it not be the job of the ECI to point out such infiltrators?” he said, adding that everybody should hence support SIR and the House should resolve to back it.
He also spoke on EVMs, saying these were introduced during the prime ministership of Rajiv Gandhi and in a phased manner. Litigations in this regard have already been examined and dismissed by the Supreme Court.
DMK leader T Siva intervened during Nadda's speech to assert that the Opposition is not against SIR but the manner in which it is being conducted by ECI.
Nadda took digs at the Opposition, saying the recent election losses have rattled it but this does not mean it should question the “propriety and integrity” of ECI by raising these doubts. “You claim to be Alexander (invincible) when you win and question the umpire when you lose,” he said.
No complaint has been filed by Congress with ECI on EVMs and all past scrutiny has found the machines to be fine, he maintained. “A bad craftsman blames his tools,” Nadda said.
Earlier during the discussion on electoral reforms, Opposition members raised issues related to poaching of lawmakers and engineering mass defections through coercion by use of probe agencies.
Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena-UBT) alleged that probe agencies like ED and CBI are misused to pressurize opponents. Along with this ‘vote chori', there was also stealing of parties by poaching, she said.
Derek O'Brien (TMC) referred to Shah's words– detect, delete, deport infiltrators and said, “No sir, divide, distract and deflect are the words. Polarise the electorate on language, religion to distract them from your own failures.”
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Source: EconomicTimes
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