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Varanasi : Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the SIR (Special Summary Revision/voter list revision), BJP MP Sambit Patra arrived in Varanasi on Monday. He dismissed the controversy as unnecessary, noting that this is the 12th such revision. He explained that the process of adding or removing names is a routine, periodic exercise. There were 10 such revisions during the Congress party’s tenure, and two have taken place under the current government. Patra questioned the Congress, “If it was acceptable when you conducted these revisions, why is it considered wrong now that we have continued this purification process ?”
The BJP MP further addressed the opposition’s allegation that 130 million (13 crore) votes had been ‘stolen.’ He remarked, “If 130 million votes had truly been stolen, what would the state of the nation be today? The streets would be filled with people, and protests would be erupting everywhere.”
Sambit Patra then outlined the methodology used for the voter list purification process, which involves the addition or removal of names based on the ‘ASDD’ formula. He explained that this formula identifies four categories of individuals whose names are removed: ‘A’ stands for ‘Absent’ referring to those no longer present at their registered address. ‘S’ stands for ‘Shifted’ referring to those who have permanently moved elsewhere. The first ‘D’ stands for ‘Deceased’ referring to individuals who are no longer alive.
The second ‘D’ stands for ‘Duplicate’ meaning that if an individual has multiple (spurious) entries, the redundant ones are removed. Sambit Patra stated that, under no circumstances, will they allow infiltrators to gain the right to vote in India no matter how hard the Congress and its allies try. Addressing allegations of “vote theft,” Patra remarked that the Congress and Rahul Gandhi are merely spreading propaganda; their claim that 130 million (13 crore) votes were stolen is completely baseless. He pointed out that if votes had indeed been stolen, the TMC would not have won the 20 assembly constituencies in West Bengal that saw the highest number of voter deletions whereas the BJP won only five of those seats.
The BJP MP noted that Rahul Gandhi’s claim that the BJP won the 2024 Lok Sabha elections through improper means is contradicted by the Supreme Court. In a 124-page order, the Supreme Court affirmed that the electoral process was sound and that the Election Commission had conducted all its duties in accordance with the law; therefore, Rahul Gandhi’s statement is incorrect. Regarding the allegation that the names of young voters are being removed, Patra countered that 23.7 million (2.37 crore) new voters aged 18 to 28 have been added to the electoral rolls, with 50,000 young people being registered every single day.
Addressing the Congress party’s accusations against the current Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, Patra asked: “The Congress has lost 56 elections between 2014 and 2025 Gyanesh Kumar was not even in the picture then.” He quipped that Rahul Gandhi seems to be carrying these 56 electoral defeats around like a ‘tikuli’ (a decorative bindi/mark) on his forehead. Taking a dig at the ‘INDIA’ alliance’s protest at Ramlila Maidan, Patra noted that while they claimed an attendance of 1 million (10 lakh) people, the actual number likely did not even reach 25,000. Regarding Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav, Patra remarked that they are the ones most distressed by the electoral roll updates, as they have long relied on such irregularities to remain in power.
Report : Abhijit Tushar Bhatt (Political Editor)
