Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday addressed the Lok Sabha and came down heavily on Opposition members including Rahul Gandhi and said some leaders are misleading the people on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls which is currently underway in different states. He said lies have been spread about SIR for months and efforts being made to mislead all. He further added that Rahul Gandhi is making ‘vote chori’ narrative to mislead people on SIR as well.
“Rahul Gandhi ji dropped a ‘nuclear bomb’ in his press conference on 5 November 2025, claiming that during the Haryana elections, 501 votes were cast from a single house. The Election Commission later clarified that House Number 265 is not a small residence, it is an ancestral one-acre property where multiple families live. This claim was made only to create a narrative of ‘vote chori’,” Amit Shah said.
Amit Shah targets Nehru, Indira, Sonia on vote chori
He said after Independence, Sardar Patel was backed by 28 persons, JL Nehru by two persons; yet Nehru became PM, this was vote chori. “Second "vote chori" was by Indira Gandhi, when she granted herself immunity after court set aside her election. Dispute of third "vote chori" has just reached civil courts on how Sonia Gandhi became a voter before becoming citizen of India,” Amit Shah said.
When Congress loses polls, EC is incompetent
Referring to Rahul Gandhi, he said the Leader of Opposition flagged irregularities in electoral rolls, but SIR is an exercise to have pure electoral rolls. “BJP lost elections in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, then poll rolls were good, but when we win elections everything is bad. When you win elections, EC is great; when you lose, EC is incompetent, such double standards will not work,” he said.
One-sided lies were spread about SIR: Shah
Amit Shah said, "...For four months, one-sided lies were spread about SIR. Attempts were made to mislead the people of the country..."
Amit Shah also stated that the Election Commission is a constitutional body and does not work as per the directives of the Central government and added that it was the responsibility of the EC to conduct free and fair elections.
The Union Home Minister also said that the discussion was supposed to be held on election reforms, but the Opposition focused solely on the SIR exercise and added that the Opposition parties had been lying for four months on the SIR and accused them of misleading people.
First SIR was carried out in 1952 under Nehru
He highlighted that the first SIR was carried out in 1952 under former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then said multiple SIRs took place during Congress administrations, including those led by Nehru and Indira Gandhi. However, he stressed that the Election Commission is conducting the SIR in accordance with its constitutional responsibility.
Amit Shah said,“If elections in a democracy are based on voter registration, then how can those elections be clean and orderly without proper verification? From time to time, a thorough re-examination of the voter rolls is necessary. That is why the Election Commission has decided that this (SIR) will be carried out in 2025.”
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