Congress challenges Amit Shah on SIR debate, demands Gyanesh Kumar's resignation

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday hit back at Home Minister Amit Shah over his remarks that the government is ready to convene a special session of Parliament on the SIR issue, saying if he is serious about the proposal, he should first secure the resignation of his "hatchet man", Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and also suspend SIR.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said 82 days have gone by since the Monsoon Session of Parliament was adjourned sine die and it has still not been prorogued.

"This is because the Home Minister is still entertaining ideas of calling a Special Session to pass the Delimitation Bills with a super-tainted two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha," Ramesh alleged.


The content of these Bills is still not known, although its intent is clear - to save the BJP from the debacle that is staring at it in 2029, he said on X.

"Meanwhile, the self-styled Chanakya, the master of bluff, bombast and bluster says he is ready for a Special Session to discuss vote chori. Last year, when the combined Opposition wanted a debate on SIR he had refused, saying SIR was the prerogative of the Election Commission," Ramesh said.

"If the Home Minister is serious about a Special Session on vote chori, he should first secure the resignation of his hatchet man CEC Gyanesh Kumar. He should also suspend SIR," the Congress leader said.

And, of course, he should also be sharing with the Opposition well in advance his new proposals for Delimitation, Ramesh added.

Why doesn't he have the courage to convene an all-party meeting to discuss these proposals in detail, the Congress leader said.

Ramesh's remarks come a day after Shah said the government is ready to convene a special session of Parliament on the issue and dared Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to debate the matter in the House.

Dismissing the INDIA bloc's rally in Delhi on Sunday as a "save infiltrator" rally, he wondered how the Congress formed governments in states, including Telangana, if the EVMs are bad, and said that Rahul Gandhi can become prime minister only in mock Parliament.

Leading the BJP's 'Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy' padayatra here, Shah said: "He (Rahul) holds the Constitution in hand, but doesn't respect the Constitution. Rahul ji, you don't allow Parliament to run. Be it EVMs, SIR, infiltrators, I challenge you from Hyderabad. We are ready to convene a special session of Parliament. Come for debate."

If a Parliament session is held, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will "shred Congress into pieces," he said and accused the Congress of wishing to be in the limelight through "anarchy."

The grand old party was trying to stop the SIR exercise to protect "infiltrators from Bangladesh" in the electoral rolls, he alleged and asserted that the BJP would remove every infiltrator from the electoral rolls.