BJP-ruled Centre took away people''s right to vote under SIR: Shashi Tharoor

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said that no one has the right to take away someone's right to vote and that is what the BJP-ruled central government has done under the guise of the SIR of the electoral roll.

While speaking to reporters here, Tharoor claimed that over 90 lakh names of voters were deleted from the electoral roll in West Bengal before the assembly polls there and only appeals of around 82,000 people were heard.

"Of those appeals, 91 per cent were found to be of people whose names should not have been deleted. If 91 per cent voters were wrongly deleted, then what was the point of the SIR," he asked.


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"Why was form 6 removed? Why was mass filing of form 7 carried out? On what basis they made the electoral list of 2002 as the foundation? Elections have been held in the country for decades, such a problem has never happened in the past," he contended.

"All these problems are because of this Election Commission," he added.

Therefore, the Congress is seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, who was behind the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll, and it also wants accountability, the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sbha constituency said.

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For that a mega rally will be held at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on November 1 for which permission has been obtained from the police, he said.

He further said that he has not forced anyone to vote for anyone or a party, all we want is people should be able to vote according to their wishes.

"Once a free and fair polls are held, the people can decide who should win," he added.