Rohit Pawar alleges BJP running parallel voter check during SIR; ruling party counters claim

Mumbai: Maharashtra NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Tuesday alleged that the BJP was running a parallel voter verification exercise through its Booth Level Agents (BLAs) during the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls and urged the Election Commission to investigate the matter.

State BJP chief spokesperson Navnath Ban, however, hit back, saying Pawar should either study the process in detail or meet Election Commission officials to understand it. The EC allows every party to appoint BLAs to assist Booth Level Officers (BLOs- appointed to carry out SIR), and the BJP is doing so strictly in line with the rules, Ban said.

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The enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) began in Maharashtra on June 30.

In a post on X, Pawar described the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise as a "horrific episode" and alleged that names of voters holding opposing political views had been deleted or shifted to different locations during the revision process in West Bengal.

He claimed that while the Election Commission was conducting the SIR exercise through the official government machinery, the BJP had simultaneously deployed its own mechanism through BLAs. Through an online link, they are providing three options against voters' names - "Ours", "Suspicious" and "Opponent" - and electors are being classified accordingly, he stated.

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Questioning the alleged exercise, Pawar asked how the BJP could run a parallel verification mechanism when the SIR process was being carried out by the EC. He also asked whether voters categorised as "Suspicious" or "Opponent" were at risk of having their names deleted from electoral rolls or shifted elsewhere.

The NCP (SP) general secretary further sought to know under what legal authority the BJP was allegedly conducting such an exercise, claiming that political parties have no legal right to independently use voters' personal or confidential records for parallel verification.

He demanded that the BJP answer these questions and urged the Election Commission to take serious note of the allegations.

Reacting to the allegations, BJP leader Ban said Pawar barely managed to retain his seat in the 2024 assembly elections and that it appears his method of studying issues is flawed.

"The way Rohit Pawar is raising doubts over the SIR process, he should either study it more deeply or meet Election Commission officials regarding the same," Ban told reporters.

He said every political party was allowed to appoint BLAs to assist Booth Level Officers, and claimed Pawar lacked sufficient party workers because he had won the election by a narrow margin.

"There is no need to worry. The BJP is implementing the SIR procedure as per the laid-down rules. The Election Commission has permitted every party to appoint its BLAs, and the BJP is doing so strictly in accordance with the rules. If Pawar does not have enough supporters, he can ask the Congress to lend him some," Ban said.

The BJP leader further said Pawar was "furious" over the SIR exercise because of his party's organisational weakness and claimed that the NCP (SP) leader's "political deadline" was approaching.

Pawar should avoid criticising the BJP, which had secured a massive mandate in the assembly elections, he added.