New Delhi – Dec 10 (LatestNewsX) – The Lok Sabha will resume its discussion on the Special Intensive Review (SIR) this Wednesday, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah scheduled to speak on the electoral reforms at 5 p.m.
The lower house began debating the SIR on Tuesday, a procedure that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is conducting in 12 states and union territories. The criticism from the opposition parties has been strong.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju posted on X that the Home Minister would address the House at 5 p.m. regarding the SIR process.
Earlier that day, Congress MP Manish Tewari opened the motion in the Lok Sabha, raising concerns about the use of public funds ahead of elections. He queried the practice of cash transfers to voters, arguing, “You cannot win elections at the cost of the national exchequer or the state exchequer. This will bankrupt our democracy, our country.” Tewari cautioned that such measures erode the integrity of the electoral system and insisted that the ECI has “no legal basis to conduct SIR.” He demanded greater openness, asking why the Commission is not providing machine‑readable voter lists to political parties.
Tewari’s demands were three‑fold: the law governing the selection of Election Commission officers must be amended; the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha should join the selection panel; and SIR should be halted immediately, with a blanket ban on direct cash transfers before elections, claiming they run contrary to democracy.
In response, BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal accused opposition leaders of using SIR and “vote‑chori” as smokescreens to distract from their heavy defeats in the recent Bihar polls. He traced the earliest example of “vote‑chori” back to 1947, when Jawaharlal Nehru became Prime Minister even though most members of the Congress Working Committee favored Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for the post. Jaiswal cited further instances – the 1975 Emergency and the contentious 1987 elections in Jammu and Kashmir – as evidence of Congress‑led “vote chori.”
During the ongoing debate on electoral reforms – terms the Congress frequently calls the SIR discussion – Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi fired a volley of pointed questions: “Why was the Chief Justice of India removed from the selection panel of the Election Commissioner? What motivation could there be to remove the CJI? Do we not believe in the CJI? Of course, we do. Then why is he not in the room?” He went on to say, “I sit in that room. It is called a democratic decision, but on one side sit Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, and on the other side, the Leader of the Opposition. I have no voice in that room. What they decide is what happens. Why are the Prime Minister and Amit Shah so keen on choosing exactly who the Election Commissioner will be?” He further alleged, “This is unprecedented. No Prime Minister has ever done this in India’s history. In December 2025, this government changed the law to ensure that no Election Commissioner could be punished for any action taken while in office. Why would the Prime Minister and Home Minister give such immunity? Why grant a privilege that no Prime Minister has ever given before?” Gandhi accused the BJP of being the “biggest anti‑national act” when stealing votes.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey joined the SIR debate and accused the Congress of undermining key constitutional bodies through amendments introduced in the 1970s. He rejected Rahul Gandhi’s claim that national institutions had been “captured by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).” In his address, Dubey referenced the 1976 Swaran Singh Committee and the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, arguing that the changes eroded the independence of institutions during the Emergency. He even claimed that the president’s office had been reduced to a ceremonial role by Congress‑led reforms.
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