New Delhi: The Congress party reiterated Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of vote theft, as initial reports revealed that millions of names have been removed from the voter lists of Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh amidst the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in nine states and three Union Territories.
According to Congress insiders, approximately 97.27 lakh names were removed in Tamil Nadu. Of these, about 66.4 lakh were either missing or had changed their addresses, 26.9 lakh were deceased, and about 4 lakh were duplicate entries. This resulted in a nearly 15 percent reduction in the number of voters in the southern state, from 6.41 crore to 5.43 crore.
AICC Tamil Nadu in-charge Girish Chodankar told ETV Bharat that such a massive reduction in names in one go is not just a matter of statistics on a file. These are real citizens who could be migrant workers, senior citizens, first-time voters, or ordinary people whose constitutional right to vote is now under serious threat. The attempt to clean up the electoral roll has reduced the number of voters in Tamil Nadu from 6.41 crore to 5.43 crore. This is a matter of grave concern that cannot be dismissed as a routine administrative exercise.
He said, “We will go door-to-door, verify the final list, and ensure that no genuine voter is deleted through administrative shortcuts. We will cross-check every deletion and stand as the first line of defense for the voter. When institutions falter or fall short, democracy survives only when political forces choose vigilance over convenience. Protecting the vote is not optional; it is a constitutional duty.”
In the past few weeks, the Congress’s Tamil Nadu unit had collected 1.2 crore signatures against ‘vote theft’ ahead of a national-level rally scheduled for December 14 in Delhi. Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, approximately 40 lakh names were removed from a total of 5.65 crore voters. In Rajasthan, approximately 41.85 lakh names, or about 7 percent of the total 5.32 crore voters, were removed during the ongoing Special Summary Revision (SSR). Both states are governed by the BJP, while Tamil Nadu has a DMK-led coalition government supported by its ally, the Congress.
Recently, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Congress lost the 2023 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections to the BJP primarily due to ‘vote theft’. Now, party leaders have linked the 40 lakh vote reduction in the SSR to the 30-35 lakh vote difference between the Congress and the BJP.
“Our leader Rahul Gandhi is putting this very point before the voters. The difference in votes between the Congress and the BJP in the 2023 assembly elections was 30 to 35 lakh. Now, nearly 40 lakh voters have been removed from the voter list in Madhya Pradesh, many without even being given notice.
In other words, it is clear that either millions of voters are being wrongly removed, or the BJP government formed in the 2023 elections came to power through fraud involving these very voters. In constituencies where the BJP won by 50,000 votes, approximately the same number of votes have been deleted. We are researching this. The SSR numbers will expose the BJP, and we will continue to fight against vote theft,” Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari told ETV Bharat.
Earlier, before the Bihar assembly elections, the Congress had raised concerns about a reduction of approximately 65 lakh voters, after which the grand old party blamed the SSR for the defeat of the opposition INDIA bloc. The Congress has termed the SSR a systematic reduction in votes and said that similar exercises during previous governments aimed at adding names to the voter list, not removing them. The oldest party has accused the BJP of promoting the SSR across the country to target opposition parties. In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party fear that they will lose approximately 50,000 votes in 43 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats they won.
In Rajasthan, the removal of 41.85 lakh voters’ names under the pretext of the Special Summary Revision (SSR) is not a legitimate process, but a deliberate political conspiracy to steal votes. This is an attack on the very foundations of democracy, targeting Dalit, backward class, minority, and poor voters. The BJP knows that if fair and honest elections are held, their defeat is certain. Therefore, they are using the Election Commission and the administration to manipulate the electoral process and disenfranchise voters through vote rigging and partisan tactics.
Two years ago, when the BJP came to power, these votes were valid, and now suddenly more than 41 lakh votes have been rejected. Every citizen should unite and protest against this attempt to snatch away the constitutional right to vote. This was stated by Rutvik Makwana, the AICC Secretary in charge of Rajasthan, to ETV Bharat.
