"Democracy being murdered in name of electoral reforms": Congress MP Imran Masood flags SIR issue ahead of Parliament winter session

New Delhi [India], December 1 (ANI): Congress MP Imran Masood on Monday criticised the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across the country, saying that the party will be raising the issue at the winter Parliament session set to commence today.
Questioning the legitimacy of the current government, Masood asked, "What is the meaning of Parliament if there is no democracy?" and alleging that the Election Commission of India has "set free of limitations," and is "murdering democracy in the name of electoral reforms."
"In the name of electoral reforms, the death of democracy is happening. What is the meaning of Parliament if there is no democracy? The Election Commission has been set free of limitations. Election Commission has been set free of limitations; there were checks and balances in the Constitution, but they (NDA) freed it of limitations. Nobody can file an FIR, can't go to court, cannot do anything against them," Masood told ANI.
"The party will raise the issue in Parliament...We can have our views changed, but why don't they tell who were the 46 lakh people who were removed from the electoral rolls?" he added.
Earlier, Congress MPs Manickam Tagore and Vijay Kumar moved an adjournment motion in parliament seeking an urgent debate regarding the allegedly "unplanned" revision exercise.
Earlier today, Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore flagged the repeated suicides of BLOs, saying that the Election Commission is doing "vote chori" in the name of SIR.
"We want the Parliament to function and the discussions to take place. We want a discussion on SIR, which is an attack on democracy, on 'vote chori', which is where the Election Commission has become an agent itself. BLOs are dying, suicides are happening in the 12 states where SIR is happening," Tagore told ANI.
Calling the revision exercise as "unplanned and one-sided," the Congress MPs have flagged the alleged extreme pressure put on Booth Level Officers (BLOs), resulting in deaths and exhaustion.
The second phase of the SIR exercise covers Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, following the successful completion of the first phase in Bihar. The final voter list will be published on February 14, 2026.
According to the ECI, over 99.65% of the electorate has been covered across 12 states, covering more than 50 crore voters. 50,79,36,071 enumeration forms have been distributed; and over 42,96,99,385 of forms, around 84.30%, have been digitised. (ANI)