"Election Commission is independent, SIR will happen": BJP leader Pratul Shah Deo

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], October 27 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pratul Shah Deo on Monday reiterated support for the nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of voter lists, emphasising the Election Commission of India's (ECI) independent status and asserting that the exercise would be conducted as announced.
"The citizens of the country have the right to vote, but how are you giving the right to vote to the citizens outside the country?... This means you don't have faith in fair elections... The Election Commission is independent, and SIR will happen," Deo told ANI.
Deo further alleged that opposition parties were opposing the SIR process because it would expose discrepancies in voter lists and remove ineligible names.
"If you are trying to win the election with outside votes and are opposing SIR because the names of Rohingya Muslims or Bangladeshi Muslims will be deleted from the voter list," he added.
The Election Commission has scheduled a press conference for 4:15 pm on Monday to address the details of the nationwide SIR. Earlier, on October 6, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had announced that the revision of voter lists would be conducted across the country.
Deo said that the BJP fully trusts the Election Commission's integrity and that the SIR process will ensure free and fair elections by cleaning up voter rolls. He also urged all parties to cooperate with the process instead of politicising it.
Meanwhile, earlier today, West Bengal's Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari also raised concerns about the accuracy of voter lists in the state, alleging the presence of "dead and fake voters" and demanding their removal before the revision exercise.
Speaking to ANI, Suvendu Adhikari said, "Voter lists must be prepared correctly. There are many dead and fake voters in West Bengal. There are double and triple entries. Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators are there. All of them should be removed," he said.
Adhikari further claimed that the BJP held a lead in the Bhowanipore constituency during the last Lok Sabha elections and expressed confidence that the party's performance would improve once the voter lists were corrected.
"Bhowanipore is a BJP seat. In 2014, the BJP held a lead here. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the BJP led in five out of eight wards. Of 267, the BJP led in 142 and the TMC in 125. This is a BJP seat. The BJP's lotus will bloom here," he added. (ANI)