Congress contradicts EC’s zero objection claim, says its BLAs filed 89 lakh objections

The Congress party has contradicted the Election Commission’s claim of “zero objection from political parties” during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, saying that the INDIA Alliance Booth Level Agents (BLAs) have submitted around 89 lakh objections.

Addressing a press conference in Patna on Sunday, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera alleged that the Election Commission officials in many areas refused to accept objections collected by the BLAs.

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Instead, the BLAs were forced to submit individual forms for each citizen, which Khera described as a deliberate tactic by the Commission to hinder opposition efforts and make it harder to reinstate deleted names.

He said: “A detailed investigation was conducted by the party across all 243 assembly constituencies of Bihar, covering more than 90,000 booths. During this process, we found around 89 lakh discrepancies, which were submitted to District Election Officers via district Congress presidents.”

Khera noted that the investigation suggested targeting of women, depriving them of their voting rights. Furthermore, under the deceased category, many living persons were listed as dead.

He demanded that the Election Commission seriously investigate these 89 lakh discrepancies and ensure that every eligible citizen’s name is restored to the voter list.

Khera emphasised: “Not a single valid voter should be denied their right to vote. The Election Commission must verify the deletions door-to-door and stop this conspiracy of targeting women, the poor, and marginalised communities.”

“The foundation of democracy lies in the sanctity of the electoral roll. If the Commission itself acts with bias, the future of democracy is in danger. We demand a serious investigation into these 89 lakh discrepancies and restoration of every eligible name to the voter list,” he added.

Since the beginning of the SIR process, the Opposition INDIA Alliance has objected to the Election Commission’s decision to conduct the exercise in a hurried manner and expressed concern over its ‘flawed implementation’. The Voter Adhikar Yatra, focused on highlighting its flaws, will conclude in Patna on Monday.