The Congress on Tuesday, November 18, accused the Election Commission of India of a “sinister” design to destroy democracy and said that its conduct during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in 12 states and union territories was “deeply disappointing”. The party called upon the electoral body to “immediately demonstrate that it is not operating under the BJP’s shadow”.

The party also announced a public rally against SIR in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan for the first week of December.

The decision was taken at a meeting in New Delhi of the party’s top leadership including party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal and the 12 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chiefs from states where the SIR is underway.

Following the meeting, Kharge said that the party is “unequivocally committed to safeguarding the integrity of the electoral rolls”.

“At a time when public confidence in democratic institutions is already strained, the Election Commission’s conduct during the SIR process has been deeply disappointing. It must immediately demonstrate that it is not operating under the BJP’s shadow and it remembers its constitutional oath and allegiance to the people of India, not to any ruling party,” he said.

Kharge accused the BJP of “attempting to weaponise the SIR process for vote chori” and said that if the Election Commission chooses to look away, “it becomes a complicity of silence”.

Following the meeting, Venugopal told reporters about the public rally to be held early next month.

“Generally, the feeling of the Pradesh Congress Committees is that the Election Commission is purposely trying to delete some section of society’s votes. The design of the SIR is to delete voters. This we saw in Bihar also, and now we are seeing it in 12 states,” he said.

Venugopal accused the Election Commission of a “sinister act to destroy democracy in the country.”

“Kharge and Rahul-ji alerted the PCC chiefs about the sinister design… the motive of the Election Commission is to destroy democracy and opposition parties. We are going to the streets… Congress party will hold a massive rally in Ramlila Maidan, and we will expose the Election Commission again,” he said.

The second phase of the SIR is being held across 12 states and union territories including Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Puducherry, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. Of these, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal are headed for assembly elections in 2026.

Separately, a revision of the electoral rolls has been announced for Assam, where too assembly elections are to be held next year.

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