BJP defends Election Commission against opposition ‘vote theft’ allegations

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a series of counter-attacks against the opposition ‘INDIA’ alliance following protests against the Election Commission of India. The opposition, led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, staged demonstrations demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging ‘vote theft’ and illegal unilateral changes to ‘Form 6’ during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.

In response, the BJP held three separate press conferences within six hours to defend the Election Commission. BJP spokespersons Sambit Patra, Sudhanshu Trivedi, and Pradeep Bhandari dismissed the opposition’s claims as attempts to spread chaos. They clarified that while an additional declaration was added to Form 6 for the SIR process, the Commission did not illegally modify the form itself.

The controversy stems from allegations that the SIR process, which resulted in the removal of over 130 million names from voter rolls, was manipulated. The BJP stated that approximately 30 million names were removed due to death and 70 million due to permanent relocation. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Election Commission to clarify if and how any changes were made to the form.