INDIA Bloc Protests Election Commission Over Voter Roll Revisions

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Election Commission of functioning as a political instrument for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. During the protest, Kharge claimed the current leadership of the commission is actively dismantling democratic institutions, warning that such actions threaten to push the citizenry into a state of subjugation reminiscent of pre-independence rule.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram intensified the criticism by targeting the technical aspects of the Special Intensive Revision. He specifically challenged the inclusion of parental and grandparental voter history in Form 6, labeling the requirement an illegal barrier to first-time voters. Chidambaram also alleged that Form 7, intended to update rolls by removing deceased or relocated individuals, is being weaponized for mass, politically motivated deletions, citing a case in Karnataka where a BJP worker reportedly filed 7,000 applications. Asserting that the integrity of election results rests entirely on the accuracy of the rolls, Chidambaram argued that the commission must undergo immediate reform to restore public trust.