“Their game is up… theft caught”: Jairam Ramesh slams PM-HM duo over EC’s fresh order for voters left out in SIR

New Delhi [India], November 6 (ANI): Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of making repeated corrections to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process after wrongly excluding voters from electoral rolls, describing the exercise as a "new form of vote theft" and demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Reacting to the Election Commission's fresh directives allowing voters marked under the Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate (ASDD) category to seek inclusion in the final electoral rolls in seven states and Union Territories, Ramesh alleged that the latest order acknowledged that genuine voters had been wrongly excluded.
"With each new day, another U-turn by the BJP comes to light. The Election Commission has just issued directives to include voters who were inadvertently left out during the ongoing SIR process in seven states/Union Territories. Better late than never, this is an acknowledgment that names were wrongly removed from the voter list under the pretext of the ASDD (Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate) category, depriving people of their voting rights," Ramesh said in a post on X.
He alleged that the Commission was scrambling to rectify its mistakes following widespread protests and public outrage over the SIR exercise.
"In the face of massive outrage and protests against SIR across the country, the Election Commission is scrambling to rectify its mistakes by issuing one new order after another. This process has put the constitutional voting rights of over 130 million Indians at risk," Ramesh said.
"With every new order, the question arises: why on earth were all the citizens of the country subjected to this massive governmental exercise and bureaucratic mess?," he added.
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Congress leader alleged that the repeated changes exposed the intentions behind the SIR exercise.
"The repeated clarifications and amendments actually expose the true intentions of the Prime Minister-Home Minister duo. Their game is up. SIR is nothing but a new form of vote theft. And now that the theft has been caught, the Election Commission and the PM-HM duo are making every possible effort to cover up their misdeeds," Ramesh said.
"Every corrective step only strengthens these two demands, which have now become crystal clear: 1. Gyanesh Kumar must be removed from his post. 2. There must be an immediate halt to SIR," he added.

हर नए दिन के साथ भाजपा का एक और यू-टर्न सामने आ रहा है । चुनाव आयोग ने अभी सात राज्यों/केंद्रशासित प्रदेशों में चल रही SIR प्रक्रिया के दौरान छूट गए मतदाताओं को शामिल करने के निर्देश जारी किए हैं। यह देर से ही सही, लेकिन इस बात की स्वीकारोक्ति है कि ASDD (Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate) श्रेणी के नाम पर गलत तरीके से लोगों के नाम वोटर लिस्ट से काटे गए और उन्हें मतदान के अधिकार से वंचित किया गया। देशभर में SIR के खिलाफ भारी आक्रोश और विरोध के बाद चुनाव आयोग लगातार नए आदेश जारी कर अपनी गलतियां सुधारने में जुटा है। इस प्रक्रिया ने 13 करोड़ से अधिक भारतीयों के संवैधानिक मतदान के अधिकार को खतरे में डाल दिया है। हर नए आदेश के साथ यह सवाल उठता है कि आखिर देश के हर नागरिक को इस इतनी बड़ी सरकारी कवायद और अफसरशाही के झमेले से क्यों गुजारा गया? बार-बार जारी हो रहे स्पष्टीकरण और संशोधन दरअसल प्रधानमंत्री-गृह मंत्री की जोड़ी की असली मंशा को उजागर करते हैं। उनकी पोल खुल चुकी है। SIR वोट चोरी का ही नया रूप है। और अब जब चोरी पकड़ी गई है, तो चुनाव आयोग और PM-HM की जोड़ी अपनी करतूतों पर पर्दा डालने के लिए हर मुमकिन कोशिश कर रही है। हर सुधारात्मक क़दम इन दो मांगों को और मज़बूती से पुष्ट करता है, जो बिल्कुल स्पष्ट हो चुकी हैं: 1. ज्ञानेश कुमार को पद से हटना होगा। 2. SIR पर तत्काल रोक लगनी चाहिए।

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) November 6, 2026

The Election Commission on Friday issued fresh instructions to the Chief Electoral Officers of Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland, providing another opportunity to voters marked under the ASDD category to get their names included in the final electoral rolls.
Under the revised instructions, booth-wise lists of such electors whose enumeration forms were not received back will be displayed at polling stations, Panchayat Bhawans, Urban Local Body offices and Block Development Officer offices. The lists will also be uploaded on the respective Chief Electoral Officers' websites.
The Commission has directed District Election Officers and Electoral Registration Officers to contact affected voters through physical delivery, WhatsApp, email and SMS. Booth Level Officers, in coordination with Booth Level Agents appointed by political parties, will also conduct house-to-house visits and make direct contact with voters to facilitate the submission of enumeration forms.
Electors whose names were omitted can reapply based on their current residential status. The applications will be verified by Electoral Registration Officers under Rule 21(1) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, before eligible names are included in the final electoral rolls. (ANI)