Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, Nov 2: Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has accused the Congress of opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls out of concern that the exercise could affect its electoral prospects. He alleged that the Congress was using the issue to create political instability in the country.

Shekhawat was speaking at a press conference held at the BJP headquarters at Kadamba Plateau. MLA Nilesh Cabral, Rupesh Kamat and Dayanand Karborkar were also present.

Questioning the Congress's stand on the revision of electoral rolls, Shekhawat criticised the party for opposing a process that aims to update and clean up voter lists.

The Union minister also made a claim concerning former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, alleging that her name had been included in the electoral rolls before she acquired Indian citizenship. Citing this, he accused the Congress of defending such inclusions in voter lists.

Shekhawat said the SIR exercise had been conducted 12 times since Independence, including on 10 occasions when the Congress was in power. He said the process involved removing the names of deceased voters, people who had shifted elsewhere and those who could no longer be traced.

He challenged the Congress to explain what was wrong with removing such names from electoral rolls.

Referring to the Goa Assembly elections scheduled for next year, Shekhawat alleged that the Congress would blame the SIR process and electronic voting machines (EVMs) if it suffered defeat. He described the protests surrounding the exercise as a battle over electoral lists.