The Congress has voiced concern over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka, alleging that the exercise could be used to remove between 5,000 and 10,000 voters in every Assembly constituency.

Addressing the media, Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the party is taking all necessary organisational steps to closely monitor the revision process and safeguard eligible voters from being excluded.

The Congress held a digital meeting with its MLAs on Saturday to discuss measures to be taken during the SIR exercise.

“The BJP’s objective is to ensure that 5,000 to 10,000 votes in every Assembly constituency get deleted. We have two years until the elections in Karnataka, and we are taking all the necessary steps to ensure that the required due diligence is carried out by our party organisation,” Ramesh said.

Drawing parallels with other states, he alleged that the party wanted to prevent a similar situation from occurring in Karnataka. “We want to ensure that what the BJP was able to achieve in Bihar is not repeated. It won the West Bengal election only because lakhs and lakhs of people who would normally have voted for the Trinamool Congress were removed from the electoral rolls,” he claimed.

Ramesh said the Congress has no objection in principle to the periodic revision of electoral rolls but questioned the manner in which the exercise is being conducted.

“We oppose the way the Election Commission is managing and coordinating the entire process. It is functioning as an arm of the BJP and behaving like an adjunct office of the Ministry of Home Affairs,” he alleged, adding that the constitutional body’s approach towards the Opposition reflected “contempt” for opposition parties.