‘Shah-Instigated Removal’—Congress coins a new term for SIR; BJP retorts, “mend your ways.”

‘Shah-Instigated Removal’—Congress coins a new term for SIR; BJP retorts, “mend your ways.”

Congress has once again targeted the central government over the ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) process. On Sunday, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh raised the issue of the large-scale deletion of names during the SIR conducted by the Election Commission. Ramesh alleged, “SIR is actually a large-scale ‘Shah-Instigated Removal’ process for deleting voters’ names; it is an attack on our Constitution. The Election Commission of India initiated the first phase of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar in June 2025, followed by the second phase in nine states and three Union Territories in November 2025. In phases 1 and 2, the names of 7.8 crore voters were removed—amounting to 13 percent of the total names listed prior to the SIR. The third phase began in mid-2026 across 16 states and three Union Territories; based on available data from 12 states and two Union Territories during this phase, 6.18 crore names have been removed out of a total of 36.06 crore voters.” Following Ramesh’s statement, the BJP responded, asserting that Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders are spreading negativity, but the results will mirror those of the DUSU elections.