Shillong, Sep 29 — Meghalaya Cabinet Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sanbor Shullai on Tuesday defended the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, saying the exercise was necessary to ensure that ineligible persons, including illegal immigrants, do not get voting rights.
Shullai accused the Congress and its INDIA Bloc partners of spreading misinformation about the Election Commission of India (ECI) and attempting to create confusion over the electoral roll revision.
Reacting to the opposition’s criticism, he said the Joint Press Note issued after the full Commission meeting had countered the allegations.
“The Joint Press Note has conclusively proved that Congress and its I.N.D.I. alliance partners have been manufacturing lies to mislead the people of the country,” Shullai said in a statement.
He added that Meghalaya, where the SIR exercise is currently underway, should not be influenced by what he described as “false claims” being made by the Congress.
Shullai further asserted that the three Election Commissioners had acted with consensus on major decisions, rejecting allegations of differences within the poll panel. “SIR is an important step to ensure that illegal immigrants don’t get to vote in our state,” he said.
According to official records, Meghalaya’s SIR involved house-to-house verification covering 23,49,645 electors, with the draft electoral roll published in August. The exercise is currently in the notice and hearing phase, with the final electoral roll scheduled for publication in October.
Shullai also referred to judicial scrutiny of the process and questioned the Congress over its criticism of the SIR-related requirements.
He alleged that the opposition party had made it a habit to attack constitutional institutions, including the Election Commission and the judiciary, when confronted with electoral setbacks.
He claimed that voters in Meghalaya had rejected the Congress and its allies and that they were now trying to create political instability by questioning the electoral process.
He appealed to people not to fall for what he called “malicious propaganda”. He said the electoral revision should be viewed as an exercise aimed at ensuring the integrity of voter lists.
The Congress has separately raised objections to the Election Commission's functioning and the SIR process, making the electoral-roll revision a major point of political contention.