Opposition hails SIR order: ‘Victory for democracy… Message for vote chors’

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called the Supreme Court’s order a victory for “millions of aware citizens” and the first success of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against “vote chori (theft)”.

The Congress specifically welcomed the Court’s order to the EC to publish details of 65 lakh deleted names from the voters’ list, with reasons of non-inclusion, and to consider Aadhaar among the list of eligible documents.

“The argument of the ECI that Aadhaar is not valid for voting has now been recognised by the Honorable Supreme Court for those 65 lakh people in the SIR case… The data of the 65 lakh people who were excluded from the voter list will now have to be made public by the ECI, which will increase transparency,” Kharge said, adding that the Congress “will not let the people’s right to vote (to) be taken away”.

Senior Congress leader and MP K C Venugopal termed the apex court’s directions “heartening” and said it was “a huge message for the vote chors (thieves)” who, he said, were trying to use the exercise “to distort the electoral process” in the poll-bound state. The Congress is among the petitioners challenging the SIR exercise.

Aadhaar was “the most widely held document by the poor and marginalised”, Venugopal said, adding that the top court’s directions will bring in “much needed transparency to the SIR process”.

“We see this as an important first step in our fight against the draconian and disastrous SIR process. Our fight to expose the ECI’s malpractices and complicity in vote rigging will continue with renewed vigour,” he added.

Jairam Ramesh, the Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, said the Supreme Court had “protected the Constitution of India with its clear, firm, and bold (order)”, but added that there was “a long battle” ahead.

“There is a long battle to save our republic from the conspiracies of the Prime Minister and those who beat the drum for him, but the Supreme Court’s decision today in the Bihar SIR case is a ray of hope. This is the first major step,” he said.

Terming it a “sharp slap on the face of BJP’s Election Commission”, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too noted the Supreme Court’s direction to provide details of the excluded voters and the recognition of Aadhaar.

CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby described the apex court’s directions as “partial relief”. “… The debate over SIR extends beyond mere revision, raising concerns about systemic sabotage in the voters’ list that could undermine democracy,” he said.

CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said the order “vindicates some of the basic objections and apprehensions raised from day one since the sudden launch of the SIR”.

Countering the Congress’s claims regarding the Court’s directions, BJP president J P Nadda said the order had “brought nothing but disappointment for the Congress” despite it having resorted to “every trick and deceit” to stop the SIR.

“Now, in sheer desperation, the Congress is clutching at non-issues and parading them as ‘moral victories’. The fact remains that all their canards are being rejected, exposed, and defeated one by one. Congress has yet again lost the case and lost the plot,” he said.

BJP national spokesperson Ajay Alok said: “No one had an issue with the SIR to begin with. Whether it is the SC, the people of the nation or the people of Bihar. Those who have a problem with the SIR are the ones whose hearts beat for Bangladeshis…” he added.

The Supreme Court’s order comes amidst daily protests by Opposition MPs in both Houses of Parliament and ahead of a “Vote Adhikar Yatra” planned by Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav across Bihar against the issue of alleged voter fraud.

Commencing Sunday, the yatra is scheduled to culminate at Patna’s iconic Gandhi Maidan on September 1.

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