Countering the Congress, the BJP on Tuesday accused the Opposition party of “leaving no stone unturned to rip apart India’s Constitutional mechanisms”.

Speaking to reporters, BJP national general secretary Smriti Irani asked why the Congress wanted the inclusion of dead and duplicate voters in the voter rolls. “In 2019, the incumbent president of the Congress had said that he would try his best to blemish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Modi said repeatedly that he could be targeted, but it should not turn into an assault on India’s democracy and Constitutional authorities. But the Congress leadership is leaving no stone unturned to rip apart India’s Constitutional mechanisms.”

“As a citizen, I want to say that the Election Commission strengthens India’s democratic systems and is the pride of Bharat’s democracy, which has been appreciated and paid respect to by several countries. The Congress party is sad that the people of India do not support it within the democratic framework, this is why, instead of assessing its defeat, it is attacking the Election Commission,” Irani said.

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Saying that the EC has already said that BLOs would visit homes of those who had been issued notices under the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls to collect and verify their documents, she asked, “Why does the Congress want the names of dead people to be restored? Why does it want duplicate names to exist in the electoral roll?”.

“The same Congress which was created for the protection of the British Empire is today attacking the Election Commission by referring to the Lahore Session of the Congress — nothing can be more shameful than this.” Irani also asked if the Congress was giving the ECI a clean chit in Opposition-ruled states like Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Karnataka.