EC’s SIR announcement: Oppn questions intent, BJP welcomes intiative

As the Election Commission announced its controversial Special Revision Exercise (SIR) in 12 more states and Union Territories, the Opposition on Monday questioned the poll body’s intent, even as the ruling BJP welcomed the initiative as a step towards cleaner voter lists.

The ECI announced the Second Phase of Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls, extending it to 12 more states and the UTs, including West Bengal and Rajasthan.

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The exercise, first such in 21 years, will cover 51 crore voters as the poll body starts house-to-house enumeration on Nov 4, 2025, with final rolls to be published on Feb 7, 2026.

The exercise aims to ensure an accurate voter list, which is especially significant as four of the states covered are scheduled for assembly elections in 2026.

Reacting to the ECI’s announcement, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that while the party has no problem with the SIR, it will protest against any attempt to delete the names of eligible voters.

“We have no problem with electoral roll revision, but if any attempt is made to delete the names of eligible voters at the behest of the BJP, we will protest democratically. We urge everyone to stay calm and not fall into the BJP’s trap – CM Mamata Banerjee, our national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, and the party are with the people of Bengal,” Ghosh said.

Congress leader Pawan Khera also reacted sharply to the ECI’s announcement, saying the exercise is not right when the Opposition parties and the voters are dissatisfied.

“The Election Commission is yet to respond to the questions we raised after the Bihar SIR. The Supreme Court had to intervene multiple times as the intentions of the EC and the BJP were not right. In Bihar, 65 lakh voter names were deleted and not a single one was added. Conducting SIR in 12 states now, when opposition parties and voters are dissatisfied, is not right,” Khera said.

However, the BJP welcomed the move, saying the uproar over Bihar SIR was unnecessary.

“The Election Commission has taken a very good decision. The entire country should learn from Bihar — where Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav created unnecessary uproar over SIR, even though everyone welcomed it…,” BJP National Spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the SIR is an appreciable move to sanitise the voter list.

“To sanitise the voter list, delete the names of deceased, migrated voters and foreign infiltrators is such an appreciable process. The Election Commission should be appreciated for this. If voter list is proper, election process will be conducted well. If fake voters, who are not Indian citizens, will be in the voter list, if deceased voters’ names will not be deleted then the voter list will not be accurate. The list should be sanitised. So, they (Opposition) should understand that EC is doing good work and it should be appreciated and not challenged,” he said.

Former West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar took the potshot over TMC, saying when the Election Commission announced the SIR some people were jumping around in Bengal.

“Now let’s see what those people will do because SIR has to happen anyway…,” he said.