'Method Of Disenfranchising Indians': Congress slams SIR

Jairam Ramesh said there was abundant evidence to show that large-scale deletions across States were overwhelmingly those of voters belonging to the most economically and socially disadvantaged and deprived sections of society. File | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar The Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is a “Method Of Disenfranchising Indians”, the Congress said on Monday (September 21, 2026), amid criticism over 33.13 lakh notices issued in Delhi over “discrepancies” in details furnished by people in their enumeration forms.Most notices were issued because voter details did not match the information in the last SIR of electoral rolls, held in 2002.Responding to a critical post over the name of the late economist Bibek Debroy appearing in the list of voters being issued notices for discrepancies, Jairam Ramesh, the Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, said “Actually at work here is a Method Of Disenfranchising Indians.”Mr. Ramesh posted the words “Method Of Disenfranchising Indians” vertically, so that the first capital letters of the words together read, “MODI”.His remarks came a day after the Congress raised the issue of large-scale deletions during the continuing SIR and alleged that it was actually a “Shah Instigated Removal” of voters and an “assault on the Constitution”.The Congress said there was abundant evidence to show that large-scale deletions across States were overwhelmingly those of voters belonging to the most economically and socially disadvantaged and deprived sections of society.In a statement on Sunday (September 20, 2026), Mr. Ramesh said the Election Commission began Phase 1 of the SIR in June 2025 in Bihar, and Phase 2 was launched in November 2025 across nine States and three Union Territories (UTs). The names of 7.8 crore voters were deleted in Phases 1 and 2, he said, adding that the deletion rate as a proportion of the pre-SIR electoral roll worked out to 13%.Phase 3 started in 16 States and three UTs in mid-2026, Mr. Ramesh said. He pointed out that, according to data from 12 States and two UTs in the continuing Phase 3, the names of 6.18 crore voters out of a total of 36.06 crore had been deleted.Opposition parties have described the SIR as a ploy to target electors who are not aligned with the BJP and its allies.The Election Commission, however, has maintained that the revision, being held after 22 years, will cleanse the voters’ list of ineligible people and duplicate entries, and include those eligible to vote under the law. Published - September 21, 2026 01:48 pm IST