'Can Democracy in Any Country Be Safe If Infiltrators Decide the PM or CM?', 'SIR Only a Sanitisation of Voter List': Amit Shah

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday questioned whether the democracy of a country can be safe if voting rights are given to infiltrators who can decide the Prime Minister of the country or the Chief Minister of a state. He made the remarks during a discussion on Special Integrated Revision (SIR) in the Lok Sabha, clarifying that SIR is only an exercise to clean up electoral rolls.

"Can democracy in any country be safe if infiltrators decide the PM of the country and CM of a state? No... SIR is nothing but the sanitisation of the voter list," he stated. 

"I believe this hurts the political goals of a few parties. I have sympathy for those parties, [but] voters of the country don't vote for them; a few infiltrators used to vote for them, and even they would be gone now," he added.

He accused the opposition of "double standards" and predicted their defeat in elections.

"In his press conference, the LoP levelled allegations that the voter list is not corrected and needs to be rectified. So, what is SIR? It is the procedure to sanitise the voter list. He is opposing even when we are undertaking the process...Your defeat is certain; voter list doesn’t have to do anything with it. He said that the BJP never has to face anti-incumbency. Anti-incumbency is only against those who work against the public interest. It is true that the BJP had to face anti-incumbency very rarely...But it is not as if we have never lost any election after 2014...Double standards won't work in a democracy. When you win, EC is great. When you lose, EC is useless and works at BJP's behest," he said.

He referred to the first SIR that was carried out in 1952 when Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of the country.

"A new trend has emerged; whenever we narrate history, some people get upset and say, ‘Don’t talk about history.’ But how can any process, any country, or any society move forward without understanding its history? History is an important part of every society. Let us take a closer look at SIR. Our electoral history began in 1952. When was the first significant revision of the SIR? It was in 1952. I mention this because they question the need for SIR. Who was the Prime Minister at that time? Jawaharlal Nehru, from the Congress Party. When was the second revision? In 1957. Jawaharlal Nehru was again the Prime Minister, from the Congress Party," he detailed.

"The third revision took place in 1961, once again under Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress Party. In 1965–66, another major revision was done, within just two years. At that time, Lal Bahadur Shastri was the Prime Minister, also from the Congress Party. The 83rd and 84th revisions took place during Indira Gandhi’s tenure. The 87th and 89th revisions happened under Rajiv Gandhi. The 92nd, 93rd, and 95th revisions were conducted during Narasimha Rao’s tenure. In 2002–03, the revision happened under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The next revision, in 2004–05, took place when Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, also from the Congress Party. After that, the next in-depth review will take place in 2025, under our government. No party ever opposed an in-depth investigation of SIR until 2004, because this process is essential for keeping elections clean and transparent," he added.

He also accused the opposition of creating the false impression that the government was not ready for a debate on SIR and assured that the BJP-led NDA does not shy away from a debate on any matter.

"The impression was created that the government was not ready for a debate, but the BJP-led NDA never shies away from debate," he said.

Referring to the autonomous powers enjoyed by the Election Commission of India, he said, "The EC has a full mandate to prepare clean electoral rolls under Article 326 of the Constitution."

"The Election Commission is conducting SIR as it is its Constitutional mandate," he further said.

Today is the second day of the discussion on electoral reforms in the Lok Sabha. This follows the Opposition's relentless demand for a debate about SIR, which the government had initially refused to accept. Finally, an agreement was reached between the government and the opposition to have a discussion on electoral reforms after the debate on Vande Mataram.

A total of 10 hours has been earmarked for the entire discussion in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

Also Read: 'One-Sided Lies On SIR Have Been Spread,...Oppn Tried To Mislead People': Amit Shah in Lok Sabha