Govt Trying To Justify ‘Vote Chori’: Opposition

As the Election Commission of India (ECI) prepares to initiate the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Odisha, opposition leaders are voicing concerns about the process, urging that it be conducted in a non-political and unbiased manner. They allege that the SIR is being implemented in BJP-ruled Odisha to justify what they term “vote chori” (vote theft) occurring through similar processes in Bihar.

On Monday, Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer R.S. Gopalan announced that the state would commence the SIR of electoral rolls in September 2025, marking the first such revision since 2002. This announcement comes amid ongoing protests by the Opposition INDIA Bloc, both inside and outside Parliament, questioning the timing of the revision, which coincides with the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, along with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, is actively participating in the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar to highlight alleged irregularities in the voter list. Their efforts aim to draw attention to what they perceive as systemic issues within the electoral process.

In response to the SIR announcement, Congress leader Udit Raj emphasized that the Opposition is not inherently against the SIR process itself but is concerned about the potential for vote theft in Bihar. He stated, “There are no elections there right now. If they do it there, it’s fine. But here, we are saying the timing was not right. How is it possible to verify 8 crore voters in just one month? We are not against SIR; it can be conducted, but can the government manage it when it has not even been able to conduct the Census? It is a useless government.”

Raj further claimed that the SIR in Odisha is being conducted to rationalize the alleged vote theft occurring in Bihar and other states. “There are no elections in Odisha. There is a BJP government in the state. I don’t know why they are conducting the SIR there. I think it is to justify whatever wrongdoings they (the ECI and government) are doing in Bihar and other states. They are trying to justify the ‘vote chori’,” he added.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also underscored the necessity for a fair SIR process. She expressed her concerns regarding the ongoing SIR in Bihar, stating, “The way people’s names are being removed, the way the entire constitutional mandate is being undermined and how the Election Commissioner is speaking, it is becoming very clear that the SIR is not truly meant to provide clean records or clean voter rolls but to run an agenda.”

Chaturvedi emphasized the importance of conducting the SIR in Odisha in a manner that is free from political bias. “No matter where it starts, be it in Odisha, we hope that it is carried out through a non-political, unbiased and democratic process and not to disenfranchise the people who have no one to support them,” she remarked.

The final voter list for Odisha is set to be published on January 7, 2026. As the ECI moves forward with the SIR process, the opposition’s calls for transparency and fairness highlight the ongoing tensions surrounding electoral integrity in India. The discourse around the SIR reflects broader concerns about the potential manipulation of the electoral process and the need for accountability within the ECI.