Parliament remained virtually non-functional for the fifth consecutive day on Friday as Opposition MPs continued their vehement protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
The controversy has sparked a storm in both Houses, with lawmakers demanding accountability from the Union Home Ministry and alleging a sinister political agenda behind the revision exercise.
Mahua Moitra Demands Accountability
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra launched a sharp attack on the Centre, stating that the Election Commission of India (ECI) was behaving like a “BJP spokesperson.”
She pointed out that if the government genuinely believes that 56 lakh bogus voters were identified in Bihar, then the Union Home Minister Amit Shah must be held responsible for allowing such alleged infiltration to occur in the first place.
“This is happening for the first time in the history of independent India,” Moitra declared in Lok Sabha. “If the central government claims that 56 lakh people have infiltrated Bihar, then what was the Home Ministry doing? It’s a failure of the Home Minister, and he must resign,” she added.
The figure of 56 lakh refers to the number of voters the Election Commission has reportedly removed from the electoral rolls in Bihar through its ongoing SIR exercise.
Parliament Disrupted Again
The relentless protests disrupted Question Hour in the Lok Sabha once again, making it the fifth day of non-functioning proceedings since the start of the Monsoon Session. The scene was no different in the Rajya Sabha, where Opposition MPs stormed the Well of the House demanding an immediate debate on the implications of SIR.
In the Lok Sabha, Jagdambika Pal, who was chairing the post-lunch session, attempted to pacify the protestors but eventually had to adjourn the House for the day.
“No one benefits from this chaos. You were sent here to raise public issues, not to stall the House. Getting the House adjourned is not a victory—it harms democracy and the nation,” he told Opposition members before adjourning the session.
In the Rajya Sabha, BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari, who was presiding, made similar appeals for calm, but to no avail. The Upper House was adjourned until Monday.
‘SIR is Vote-Bandi’: Kharge, Rahul, Priyanka Lead Protest
Earlier in the day, the INDIA bloc MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and other leaders, staged a dramatic protest in the Parliament House complex. They tore posters emblazoned with “SIR” and placed them in a symbolic “disposal bin”, rejecting what they describe as an anti-democratic and caste-discriminatory measure.
In a strongly worded statement, Kharge accused the Modi government and the RSS-BJP combine of attempting to rob the poor, Dalits, tribals, backward classes, and minorities of their voting rights through the SIR process.
“The RSS-BJP has always been against the inclusion of weaker sections in democratic processes. This SIR is their latest attempt to fulfill an old dream—to disenfranchise millions and rewrite the Constitution in the image of the Manusmriti,” Kharge wrote on social media platform X.
He also alleged that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in Bihar were acting in a partisan manner by ensuring only “selective” sections of society remained on the voter list.
Nationwide Implementation Feared
Voicing similar fears, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra raised alarms about the SIR being rolled out nationwide. She argued that stripping the poor of their right to vote amounts to the “murder of democracy.”
“Our Constitution grants every citizen the right to vote. Taking it away from the poor means taking away democracy itself. We will not accept this,” she posted on X along with images from the protest.