New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, urging Chief Electoral Officers across states to speak out against what he described as “unlawful actions” carried out during the process.
“I urge all Chief Electoral Officers of states to speak NOW and expose the unlawful acts that they were compelled to commit under S.I.R. on the directions of Mr Gyanesh Kumar,” Chidamabar said in his X post.
He also questioned the deletion of votes of over 13 crore people during the SIR, calling it “grave illegality.”
“The exclusion of 13,30,00,000 persons (except the dead) from the electoral rolls is a grave illegality,” the Congress MP said.
“Be brave, and uphold the Constitution of India,” he concluded.
The Congress MP’s comments came amid growing Opposition scrutiny of the Election Commission over the SIR exercise, with allegations concerning voter deletions, the ECINet system, and the procedure for challenging exclusions.
On Friday also, Chidamaram targeted Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyaanesh Kumar over the SIR of electoral rolls. He had alleged that the CEC was trying to “cover his tracks” by reversing decisions that Chidambaram described as illegal.
In a post on X, Chidambaram had questioned what he said were the consequences of the deletion of 13.3 crore voters from electoral rolls during SIR and asked whether those who were unable to vote in recent Assembly elections would get answers.
“CEC, Mr Gyanesh Kumar, is desperately trying to cover his tracks and reverse the illegal decisions that he took unilaterally in the name of the Election Commission,” Chidambaram had written in his X post.
Notably, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the Election Commission said that nearly 93 per cent of cases decided by West Bengal’s appellate tribunals had resulted in excluded voters being declared eligible. The data has since emerged as a key point of contention in the political debate surrounding SIR.