“Opposition Chases the SIR Mirage in Parliament”, Open The Magzine, December 01, 2025
“Just days ahead of the winter session of Parliament, the Election Commission issued a short communication stating that it has received no request for electronic voting machine (EVM) verification in any of the 243 assembly constituencies in Bihar and the eight assembly constituencies where by-polls were held after expiration of seven days of the results. Mandatory of verification of VVPAT(voter verified paper audit trail) did not reveal a single discrepancy and there were “zero appeals” against wrongful inclusion or exclusion of any voter after the SIR and, lastly, no requests for a re-poll by any of the 2,616 candidates or 12 recognised political parties.
But such is the way politics happens, the opening day of the winter session – and perhaps many more – was drowned out by the INDIA block demand that the SIR and the EC be discussed in the two Houses. It is a given that the first day or week of a Parliament session is “sacrificed” at the altar of Opposition protests but the proceedings on Monday seemed a seamless continuation of the previous session. It is almost the entire Bihar election, which was conducted flawlessly with any significant evidence that SIR was an issue with voters, did not happen. Were we living in an alternate universe where facts and events were warped beyond recognition?
Making EC the fall guy
Rather than acknowledging that the handful of six seats it won in constituencies with the help of its senior ally Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD), Congress lost no time in blaming the EC and SIT for its woeful performance. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Trinamool Congress face elections next year in March-April and they have vociferously taken up SIR accusing the EC of working in cahoots with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of deleting Muslim voters from the electoral rolls. Uttar Pradesh goes to polls in 2027 but Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, while filling out his voter details diligently, has levelled similar accusations……”
Read full article at openthemagazine.com
