Cong misleading country against SIR to pacify its cadres on poll losses: J P Nadda

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) Union Minister J P Nadda on Tuesday accused the Congress of misleading the country by creating a false narrative of rigging of votes through SIR process and said the Opposition is hurting national interest by questioning the Election Commission in order to hide its electoral failures.

Instead of blaming the Election Commission (ECI) and electoral process, Nadda, who is the leader of the Upper House, asked the Congress to find the actual reason for its successive defeats in elections.

Launching a scathing attack on the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, he said the party was raising questions on the credibility of the ECI over the conduct of special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which was its constitutional mandate, but never raised questions when the functioning of the ECI was "controlled" by it for several years.

In his reply to the debate on election reforms, Nadda also asked whether "ghuspaithiyas" (infiltrators) be allowed to be included in the voter lists and vote in elections in India.

SIR falls within the constitutional powers of the ECI and it is the Commission's duty to periodically purify and rectify the electoral rolls to ensure no eligible voter is excluded from the list and no ineligible voter is included, he said.

"In the past four months, an attempt has been made to create an atmosphere in the country regarding SIR... as if some rigging is taking place...The election results (of Bihar) that have come in must surely trouble you (the Congress). You are applying the medicine somewhere else, but the disease is somewhere else. You will have to find your own disease," he noted.

He said creating a narrative that losses happen because the ECI is not doing its job may appease party cadres, while putting party interests above the national interest.

"Merely to calm your own cadres, spreading this misconception that we are losing elections because the ECI is indulging in mischief — I think this is compromising the interests of your party and the interests of the country," he alleged.

Continuing his tirade on the Congress, Nadda said, for decades, the responsibility of overseeing the functioning and work of the ECI rested with a single party that remained in power for a long time.

"In reality, it was not just a party but just 'one family'. Yet during that period, no one questioned the credibility of the Election Commission," he said.

He also made it clear that the Modi government does not shy away from any discussion or scrutiny of any kind and was ready to discuss everything in Parliament.

"You (Congress) have raised questions about the ECI as well as about EVMs. EVMs were introduced during Rajiv Gandhi's time as well. And EVMs came with full trials and legal changes. The 2004 and 2009 elections were also conducted through EVMs, in which the UPA won," he noted asking why Congress did not raise questions then.

Accusing the Congress of protecting infiltrators and their votes, he asked, "The real question is whether infiltrators should be allowed to remain on the electoral rolls. The lists must be cleaned thoroughly and fairly." "The country would be run with the votes of 'ghuspaithiyas' or with the votes of Indian citizens. Is it not the work of the ECI to identify 'ghuspaithiyas'. We and this house should pass a resolution to support SIR," he said.

Noting that politics should not be brought in the SIR exercise which was in national interest, he said it has been part of India’s democratic process since 1952.

It was conducted in 1952, 1957 and 1961 when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister, in 1965 when Lal Bahadur Shastri was PM, in 1983 when Indira Gandhi was PM, in 1987 and 1989 when Rajiv Gandhi was PM, in 1992 when P V Narasimha Rao was PM, in 2002 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM and in 2004 when Manmohan Singh was the PM.

"Except for Atal ji, every time SIR was carried out, the PM was from the Congress," he said.

Nadda said no one took up the challenge thrown by the ECI to show how the process could be rigged.

He said the Opposition wanted to go back to ballot paper, but recalled what happened with the elections of Kripalani and Ambedkar.

"I have seen how ballot boxes used to disappear,"he said, asking the opposition members to come out of these excuses.

Since 2014, he said, the EC has not received a single suggestion for electoral reforms from the Congress, which has gone only for election disputes.

Noting that every vote is important, he said it can decide the country’s direction and destiny. "We should maintain the sanctity of the Election Commission, and speak about it with responsibility." The EC has made a long journey of reform, and the country has conducted several elections with success, he said, adding it is not easy to organise an election for crores of people and is unparalleled in the world.

Nadda said the Congress has claimed to have brought an 'atom bomb' and 'hydrogen bomb' through press conferences against the Election Commission while trying to tarnish its image, even though the poll body has responded to all the charges.

"Should we allow such things when questions are being raised on the EC's authority, propriety and integrity," he asked.

Nadda said in Bihar, the EC cleaned up the electoral rolls through SIR after a period of 22 years and removed 65 lakh voters in a transparent process and only two objections were received by it.

He said the Opposition's campaign against SIR has fallen flat and the Bihar’s results have proven that. PTI RKL NKD SKC NKD ANU ANU