6 years of marriage, 12 children: BJP cites bizarre voter records to defend SIR

As the INDIA bloc targets CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged vote theft, the BJP has hit back with claims of glaring irregularities in voter records. Sambit Patra cited bizarre discrepancies in voter records, including a father-son age gap of just five years to defend the SIR.Sambit Patra launched a fresh attack on the Congress over the INDIA bloc's symbolic public impeachment of CEC. (PTI photo)New Delhi,Oct 31, 2026 18:02 ISTBJP MP Sambit Patra on Saturday claimed that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had exposed bizarre discrepancies in voter records, including cases where a father was only five years older than his son and a couple had allegedly had 12 children in six years of marriage. He alleged that people suspected of being illegal immigrants were refusing to respond to notices seeking clarification.Patra made the remarks during a press conference in Delhi, where he launched a fresh attack on the Congress over the INDIA bloc's symbolic public impeachment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.The BJP leader questioned the opposition's allegations of vote theft and defended the SIR exercise, accusing the Congress and other opposition parties of opposing electoral roll revision despite similar exercises having been conducted during previous Congress governments.'FATHER ONLY 5 YEARS OLDER THAN SON'Explaining the discrepancies allegedly found during the mapping of voter records, Patra cited cases in which family details did not appear to add up. "In one case, the father is only five years older than the son. How is that biologically possible?" he asked. He also cited an alleged case in which a couple had been married for six years but had 12 children listed in their records.Patra said notices had been sent to the individuals concerned, asking them to explain the discrepancies, but claimed they had not responded. "Many people are not responding to notices. These are infiltrators. Tell me, should infiltrators be voters in our country?" he said. The BJP MP alleged that some people had obtained ration cards, Aadhaar cards and other documents despite being illegal immigrants, and that the discrepancies were now emerging during the SIR mapping process.BJP EXPLAINS SIR, DEFENDS VOTER DELETIONSSambit Patra said the SIR exercise had been conducted 12 times in India, including 10 times during Congress rule, and questioned why the opposition was now objecting to it.He explained the ASDD categories used in the revision process as "Absent", "Shifted", "Death" and "Duplicate".Under the process, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) visit voters' homes three times to collect enumeration forms. If a voter is unavailable during all three visits, the person is marked absent and their name may be excluded from the electoral roll. Patra said such voters could subsequently re-register by submitting Form 6.He said around 12 crore people had been identified as permanently shifted, of whom six crore had already applied for re-registration. The remaining six crore, he said, were being sent notices and could rejoin the rolls by completing the required process.Patra also said around 2.8 crore names had been removed because the voters were deceased, while approximately one crore duplicate entries had been deleted.He defended the removals as necessary to maintain clean electoral rolls and alleged that deceased voters had been used for "ghost voting" in West Bengal.Patra accused the Trinamool Congress of using the names of deceased people to cast votes and claimed that the SIR exercise had prevented such malpractice.BJP COUNTERS INDIA BLOC'S ALLEGATIONSSambit Patra also rejected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's allegation that Form 6 had been amended without Parliament's approval.He said the form itself had not been amended and that a declaration had been added alongside it, citing a Supreme Court judgment dated May 27, 2026.He further rejected allegations that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had sidelined the other two Election Commissioners during the SIR decision-making process, saying the exercise had been approved unanimously.Patra also questioned the opposition's booth-level agents, asking why they had failed to identify alleged errors in electoral rolls before the INDIA bloc raised the issue.The BJP MP's remarks came as the INDIA bloc held a symbolic public impeachment of CEC Gyanesh Kumar at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi.The opposition accused the Election Commission of acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and demanded Kumar's removal, the repeal of the 2023 law governing the appointment of election commissioners and an end to the SIR exercise.The INDIA bloc has also called for a rally at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday under the banner of 'Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao'.- Ends