SIR is not new; several have taken place since 1952, Law Minister tells LS

Countering Opposition charges with regard to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Tuesday (December 9, 2025) asserted that it is the Constitutional responsibility of the Election Commission of India to clean up the list of voters, pointing out that the exercise has been held multiple times since 1952.

Responding to the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s charge about the government changing the law regarding the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and fellow Election Commissioners (ECs), Mr. Meghwal said the government had created a framework following a March 2023 Supreme Court ruling.

Intervening in the debate on election reforms in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Meghwal accused the Congress of engaging in vote chori (theft) since the first Lok Sabha election, accusing the party of rigging the election through the invalidation of over 74,000 votes to ensure B.R. Ambedkar’s defeat.

‘EC has legal authority’

The Law Minister said the Opposition, including the Congress, blames electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the SIR for their repeated defeats, but fails to introspect on the reasons for their losses

He reminded members that the Supreme Court had upheld the SIR exercise in Bihar and confirmed that the Election Commission has the legal authority to undertake the clean-up of the voters’ list.

SIRs had been conducted multiple times between 1952 and 2002, but no such exercise took place in the last two decades, Mr. Meghwal said. A revision was necessary to address changes in the electoral rolls due to migration and urbanisation, which often led to electors being registered in multiple places, he added.

‘Double standard’

Also intervening in the debate, Union Minister and Janata Dal (United) MP Rajeev Ranjan Singh said that the Opposition parties question EVMs only when they are defeated in elections. “You won in Bengal, Himachal, and Karnataka; then the EVMs were correct. But in Maharashtra, Haryana or Bihar, the machines suddenly became faulty? People do not accept this double standard,” he said. “The Opposition parties should take some free tips from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on how to succeed in elections,” he quipped.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey added that EVMs were first introduced in the country by the late Congress PM Rajiv Gandhi, as a pilot project in 1987.

‘ECI not independent’

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) leader Supriya Sule said the Election Commission of India appeared to be part of the government, instead of being an independent authority. “This is not healthy for any democracy in the world. It’s shameful,” Ms. Sule said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) member Amra Ram wondered why there was any need for an SIR of voter lists, which are updated every year. The Left leader also demanded a return to ballot papers instead of EVMs.