The Congress on Wednesday demanded a repoll in 50 assembly seats in West Bengal where, it claimed, the victory margin is less than the total votes deleted during SIR, and urged the Supreme Court to step in.ย Congress leader Pawan Khera alleged large-scale electoral manipulation in West Bengal and Assam and said that after restoring the voting rights of people, polling should be held afresh in such assembly constituencies.
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Launching a scathing attack on the BJP, Khera said that electoral rolls were being “deliberately manipulated” and democratic institutions “compromised” to engineer favourable outcomes for the ruling party.
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“Abki baar loktantra ka antim sanskar (this time it will be the last rites for democracy),” he said.
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Khera alleged that the BJP had weaponised SIR as a tool to snatch away the fundamental right to vote. Under SIR, he alleged, electoral rolls had been selectively manipulated in election-bound states.
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He claimed that in 12 states, 7.2 crore voters have been deleted, which is 10.2 per cent of India’s voter base being wiped out.
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“The BJP regime has now brazenly and systematically subverted the mandate of the people of Assam and West Bengal through a deeply entrenched, remote-controlled electoral machinery, effectively hijacking the institutions that are meant to protect free and fair elections,” he alleged.
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“What remains today is not democracy in practice, but a hollowed-out shell, which is captured, compromised and controlled,” he alleged.
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Khera asserted that in West Bengal, names of more than 90 lakh voters were deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, with 27 lakh citizens denied due process.
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This, he said, had affected poll results in several constituencies. He described the result as a “manufactured verdict” rather than a genuine electoral outcome.
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“The BJP stands accused of orchestrating the large-scale theft of mandate, manipulating electoral rolls and engineering outcomes across more than 100 seats,” he claimed.
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He pointed out that the number of deleted voters exceeded the winning margin in at least 50 constituencies, “rendering the results structurally pre-decided”.
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Khera expressed the hope that the Supreme Court will take suo motu cognisance of this and restore the right to vote to those whose names had been deleted, adding that re-polling should be held in these constituencies.
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“Voters who were deprived of their voting rights and their votes snatched in West Bengal, the victory margin on those seats is less than the number of SIR deletions. Everything is before you in black and white.
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“We expect the Supreme Court to take cognisance of this and help give back voting rights to such people and we feel that there should be repolling in all such seats. The margins are before you,” Khera told reporters.
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Khera said the Supreme Court has always stood in saving democracy and the Constitution and played a significant role.
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“Those people are still waiting for their right to vote to be restored and we hope and pray that the Supreme Court takes suo motu cognisance of this and restores their right to vote,” he noted.
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“We have full faith in the Supreme Court that they will deliver justice, keeping the Constitution in mind,” the Congress leader said.
He said the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA Alliance) stands unequivocally with Mamata Banerjee in this moment of democratic crisis.
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Her resolve to strengthen the INDIA bloc reflects a wider national imperative, he said.
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Khera said their alliance “is united in recognising that what has transpired in West Bengal is not an election outcome, but a “manufactured verdict imposed through manipulation”.
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He also alleged electoral irregularities in Assam, saying that both states reflected a “captured democratic process” rather than isolated lapses.
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He reiterated allegations of irregularities in Karnatakaโs Aland constituency, discrepancies in Haryana voter data and unusual voter additions between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra and turnout revisions within a short period.
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The Congress spokesperson said that across several states, voter deletions under electoral revision exercises had impacted crores of electors, terming it a “systematic attempt to dilute the right to vote”.
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He alleged that the Election Commission had been compromised, claiming it was acting in a manner that facilitated such processes.
He also accused the BJP of using central agencies and institutional mechanisms to weaken opposition parties, describing it as “organised political targeting”.ย
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Also read: Congress will win in all three Municipal Corporations: Hooda