Karwar: The Congress on Monday levelled serious allegations against the BJP-led Union govt, claiming that the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is being misused to selectively remove voters perceived to be Congress supporters.Addressing reporters in Karwar, AICC secretary and Congress observer for the SIR process, Anjali Nimbalkar, said the party suspects a “deliberate pattern” in the deletion of names from electoral rolls across several states. Citing examples from West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, she claimed that “crores of voters” had been removed from the rolls.“The BJP is attempting to influence election outcomes by misusing the Election Commission (EC). We have supporting evidence,” she said.Nimbalkar also addressed the ongoing debate over the Women’s Reservation Bill. Reiterating that the Congress has consistently supported 33% reservation for women, she pointed out that a similar bill had already been passed in the Rajya Sabha during the UPA govt’s tenure. However, she expressed strong reservations about the Centre linking the bill to a fresh delimitation exercise.“If the govt introduces the reservation bill independently, without tying it to delimitation, the INDIA alliance led by Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge will extend unconditional support,” she said.Referring to Uttara Kannada district, Nimbalkar said she has been overseeing the SIR process in accordance with directions from KPCC president BK Hariprasad. According to her, around 75% of voter ID digitisation has already been completed in the district. With the EC extending the verification deadline to Aug 8, the party aims to achieve near-complete coverage.Launching a sharp political attack, Nimbalkar also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah over border security and illegal immigration. ]She accused the BJP of frequently raising the issue of illegal immigrants while failing to secure the country’s borders. “Preventing infiltration is the responsibility of the Centre, not the states. So who is leaving the borders open?” she asked.
