The Election Commission of India on Sunday issued a stern response to allegations of voter manipulation in the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, describing the claims as an insult to the Constitution and a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.
The poll body’s remarks came after Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders accused the Commission of colluding with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to influence the outcome of the Bihar Assembly elections by manipulating electoral rolls. According to the opposition, the SIR process was being misused through selective additions and deletions of voters.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said the SIR exercise had been initiated following repeated requests from several political parties. “It is a matter of serious concern that these verified documents, testimonials of the district presidents of political parties and the BLOs nominated by political parties are either not reaching their own state level or national level leaders, or an attempt is being made to spread confusion by ignoring the ground reality,” he said.
He noted that more than 1.6 lakh Booth Level Agents nominated by political parties had been involved in preparing the draft rolls. “The truth is that step by step all the stakeholders are committed, trying and working hard to make the SIR of Bihar a complete success,” he added.
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The Chief Election Commissioner also cautioned that unfounded allegations had the potential to erode public trust. “According to the law, if errors in the voter lists are not corrected in time, if an election petition is not filed in the Hon’ble High Court within 45 days of a voter choosing their candidate, and instead misleading words like ‘vote theft’ are used in a failed attempt to misguide the public, then what is this if not an insult to the Constitution of India?” he asked.
He further stated that the Commission “is not scared of false allegations,” adding that neither the institution nor the voters of Bihar “will be intimidated by baseless claims”.
Kumar highlighted that photographs of several voters had recently been shown to the media without their consent. “Should the Election Commission share the CCTV videos of any voter, including their mothers, daughters-in-law, or daughters? Only those whose names are in the voter list cast their votes to elect their candidate,” he said.
He concluded that the Election Commission will continue to “stand like a rock” with all voters, regardless of class, religion or political affiliation, and will remain committed to free and fair elections.
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