Hyderabad: BJP national vice-president Ram Madhav accused Rahul Gandhi of ignoring Congress’s history while criticising the voter list revision process. He defended the Election Commission’s exercise and urged all political parties to participate.
Speaking at a media conference, Madhav denied that the Election Commission had deleted 13 crore voter names. He said such a large-scale removal would have triggered public protests on the streets.
He said around six crore people had moved from one place to another. The exercise also removed three crore entries belonging to deceased voters. Madhav said officials had deleted another one crore duplicate entries.
The Election Commission was still examining the removal of around two to two-and-a-half crore more names, he said.
Voter list revision needs participation from all parties
Madhav said the BJP had joined the process and called on the Congress to take part. He urged every political party to participate in the exercise.
He also said the Special Intensive Revision process did not begin under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Electoral rolls needed regular updates, he said.
Madhav questioned whether the authorities should retain the names of deceased voters. He also insisted that officials must remove votes registered by illegal immigrants.
He asked why the Congress had reacted so strongly to the Election Commission’s work. Madhav alleged that the party had a history of relying on votes cast by illegal immigrants to win elections.