Bihar Elections: Amit Shah backs voter list revision, says infiltrators have no voting rights

In perhaps his first comments on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that "infiltrators have no right to participate in India's electoral process" and the Opposition has been raking up the issue as "it is their vote bank". He attacked the Opposition parties for failing to come up with a single claim or objection regarding wrongful deletion of genuine voters or inclusion of ineligible voters in the list.

Reiterating the need for SIR, he said that it was intended to remove from the electoral rolls, the names of infiltrators who came illegally from Bangladesh and were taking up jobs which were rightly meant for the youth in Bihar.

Addressing a rally in Sitamarhi district of Bihar, he said: "Those who were not born in India don't have the right to vote in India as per the Constitution of India...You (Rahul Gandhi) are carrying the Constitution around. I would suggest you open and read it for once. Infiltrators have no right to participate in this country's electoral process. They are your vote bank, that's why you are opposing."


Stating that the SIR had been carried out in the past also, he said that neither the Congress nor RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav had raised objections then. Earlier, he laid the foundation stone for the grand Sita temple at 'Punaura Dham' in Sitamarhi district. In July this year, the Bihar cabinet had approved ₹883 crore for the renovation and construction of a Sita temple. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was also present with Shah during the programme along with several senior NDA leaders in Bihar, including Union and state ministers and MPs.

Shah expressed confidence that the NDA would return to power, led by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Shah also accused the Opposition of opposing 'Operation Sindoor' launched after the Pahalgam terror attack. "The previous Congress governments were unable to contain terror. Terrorists would strike at will and return to their hideouts unharmed. But things have changed with the BJP assuming power and Narendra Modi becoming the prime minister," he said.