Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, other Opposition MPs tear SIR placards, throw them in bin in symbolic rejection of exercise | Watch

The opposition leaders have been demanding that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi address both houses and the nation on crucial issues, including the ghastly Pahalgam terror attack and the ongoing SIR exercise

Several leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, on Friday held a symbolic protest in Parliament House complex against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

The MPs gathered at the Parliament complex and tore posters with ‘SIR’ written on them and put them in a disposal bin.

Some of the leaders who were part of the protest included Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav, among others.

#WATCH | Delhi | Congress MP & LoP Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav, along with various MPs of INDIA parties, symbolically tear the SIR and throw it in a dustbin pic.twitter.com/kXhOw6JSwv

— ANI (@ANI) July 25, 2025

Meanwhile, Kharge also criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI) over its decision to implement SIR nationwide. “The Modi government wants to suppress the votes of the poor, Dalits, tribals, backward classes, minorities, and the deprived, so that it can amend the Indian Constitution in line with the Manusmriti,” he wrote on X.

He further claimed that the BJP and RSS are aiming to leverage the revision process to disenfranchise marginalised groups. “The RSS-BJP has always sought to deprive the weaker sections of society of their voting rights, and now, through the use of SIR, it is determined to fulfil its long-standing agenda,” Kharge stated.

चुनाव आयोग ने आज आधिकारिक एलान किया है कि वह Special Intensive Revision (SIR) Exercise पूरे देश में लागू करेगा। मोदी सरकार ग़रीबों, दलितों, आदिवासियों, पिछड़े वर्ग, अल्पसंख्यकों और वंचितों के वोट काटना चाहती है, ताकि वो भारत के संविधान को मनुस्मृति के मुताबिक बदलाव कर सके।… pic.twitter.com/wGjYXIADGL — Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) July 25, 2025

In its order on June 24, the poll body had announced that it would begin a SIR of electoral rolls across the country, a copy of which was accessed by news agency ANI on Friday. “The Commission has now decided to begin the Special Intensive Revision in the entire country for the discharge of its constitutional mandate to protect the integrity of electoral rolls,” it said.

The opposition leaders have been demanding that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi address both houses and the nation on crucial issues, including the ghastly Pahalgam terror attack and the ongoing SIR exercise being carried out by the EC in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.