Congress To Go Bullish Against SIR, To Hold Rally In Delhi In Dec

New Delhi: The Congress has decided to go bullish over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) going on in 9 states and 3 Union Territories, and will project the voter list revision as a threat to democracy and a test of the Election Commission’s credibility.

As part of the plan, the Congress will hold a big rally against the SIR in Delhi in the first week of December and will also flag the issue during the winter session of parliament starting from December 1. The Delhi rally will be a Congress show of strength, while the opposition INDIA bloc will together protest against the SIR inside parliament.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, along with Congress chief and leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, reviewed the grand old party’s SIR strategy along with senior leaders from the 9 states and 3 UTs.

During the session, Rahul Gandhi told the party leaders to remain vigilant during the ongoing SIR after they briefed the gathering that the controversial voter list revision was aimed at the targeted removal of voters.

According to party insiders, concern was also expressed during the discussions over the EC rushing through SIR, which should have been given a longer time frame and the pressure from the authorities, which resulted in the death of booth-level officers in three states, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala.

The controversial SIR started from Bihar in June and led to the removal of 47 lakh of the total 7.9 crore voters, which the INDIA bloc alleged was done through a chaotic process. The second phase of the SIR will cover nearly 51 crore electors across 9 states, namely Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and 3 UTs, namely Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Puducherry, spanning 321 districts and 1,843 Assembly Constituencies.

“Our leader, Rahul Gandhi, gave clear guidance on safeguarding the integrity of the electoral rolls. The Congress will remain vigilant and proactive to protect every genuine voter,” All India Congress Committee (AICC) in charge of Andaman and Nicobar unit Manickam Tagore told ETV Bharat.

To do that, the Congress booth-level agents in the 9 states and 3 UTs will be trained to mobilise the voters to get enrolled in the SIR process to ensure no genuine names are deleted and no fake ones added.

“Massive vote theft is being carried out through SIR. That's why immense pressure is being exerted, and due to this, three BLOs have committed suicide in Rajasthan - Mukesh Jangid, in Kerala - Anish George and in Madhya Pradesh - Udaybhan Singhar. What kind of deadly action is this?” AICC secretary in charge of Maharashtra, BM Sandeep, told ETV Bharat.

According to Sandeep, the Delhi rally will aim to flag the flaws in the SIR and help create nationwide awareness against it. Alongside, the Congress will flag that the SIR will be an opportunity for the EC to reassure the citizens that it was a neutral constitutional body.

AICC secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu Suraj Hegde told ETV Bharat, “This is a very important issue. It is a challenge to our democratic system if the names of genuine voters are removed through a rushed process. The SIR issue will echo in parliament. The EC must 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.”

“Now they have announced a special revision of the voter list in Assam also. All this name change of the process is aimed at only one thing, dent the rivals of the BJP,” he said.

The INDIA bloc believes that the SIR hit the opposition in the Bihar elections and may dent the parties in poll-bound Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, which are ruled by the Left parties, DMK and TMC, respectively, in the 2026 state elections.

Congress Lok Sabha MP Praniti Shinde told ETV Bharat, “Certainly, the SIR will be one of the issues that will be flagged by the INDIA bloc during the winter session. Our leader and allies have already revealed vote theft in the Maharashtra elections. The BJP is trying to weaponise the SIR process.”