Home Minister Amit Shah Declares in Lok Sabha: “Falsehoods Were Spread About SIR; Foreign Nationals Will Never Be Granted Voting Rights”
New Delhi — In a sharp and unequivocal address to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Opposition of deliberately spreading misinformation about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls and attempting to mislead the public.
Shah clarified that the SIR is simply a voter list purification exercise, aimed at ensuring accuracy and legitimacy.
Stressing that foreign nationals can never be given the right to vote in India, he said such a possibility is entirely out of the question.
During the discussion on electoral reforms, the Home Minister invoked Article 327 of the Constitution, noting that it grants the Election Commission of India (ECI) complete authority over the preparation of electoral rolls.
Addressing the House and the people of the country, Shah asked pointedly:
“Will infiltrators decide who becomes the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister of India?”
He termed the Opposition’s allegations as baseless and asserted that their misinformation campaign harms the image of Indian democracy globally.
Shah further charged that the Opposition has attempted to put the government “in the dock” by claiming that the Election Commission is acting at the government’s direction.
He dismissed these claims, stating that the Commission functions entirely on its own terms and cannot be controlled by anyone, because the Constitution has empowered it to conduct free and fair elections across the country.
He reiterated that the Commission is responsible for conducting elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, President, Vice President, and all State Legislative Assemblies, and the government has no role in deciding the timing or process of these elections.
The SIR exercise, he emphasised, was initiated by the Commission itself, not by the government.
Calling the Opposition’s assertion—that the ECI works under government influence—completely unfounded, Shah said that the Election Commission is a constitutional and autonomous institution where government interference is neither permissible nor possible.
Following Shah’s remarks, the Opposition refused to accept his explanations on electoral reforms and staged a walkout from the House.
