Parliament Winter Session 2025 Live: SIR debate in Lok Sabha shortly, Rahul Gandhi to lead Oppn's charge

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Question Hour is underway in Lok Sabha with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan taking up questions.

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Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Tuesday," Today, discussion on election reforms will begin in Lok Sabha. In Rajya Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will lead the 2-day discussion on Vande Mataram today. Some Opposition members have said that the Vande Mataram discussion is being held because of the election. It is wrong to say so."

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The NDA Parliamentary Party is holding a meeting at the GMC Balayogi Auditorium in the Parliament Library Building with PM Modi in attendance. All NDA members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been asked to present at the meeting.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore submitted a notice for suspension of business in the Lok Sabha, demanding a discussion on the 'government's failure in preventing and responding to the unprecedented IndiGo flight disruptions, massive passenger harassment, and exploitative airfare surge.'

The Lok Sabha is all set to take up a discussion on electoral reforms today, including the special intensive revision (SIR) of India’s electoral rolls -- a debate that the Opposition had been demanding for months. Following days of negotiations, the government and Opposition reached an agreement last week to bring the matter to the House.

During the debate, Rahul Gandhi is expected to raise allegations of “vote theft” and question the Election Commission of India’s accountability. The Opposition has long maintained that India’s voter rolls contain serious inconsistencies -- from mass deletions to duplicate entries -- issues Gandhi has repeatedly underscored in press conferences held in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Karnataka. Read more

Since the start of the Winter Session on December 1, Opposition parties were demanding a dedicated debate on electoral reforms and the SIR. Several Opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, staged protests inside and outside Parliament during the first two days. The leaders held posters and placards against the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls, carried a large banner reading “Stop SIR–Stop Vote Chori”, and raised slogans against the government.

The Congress also alleged that the SIR drive, while presented as an exercise to clean the rolls of bogus entries, was misused during its rollout in Bihar to target marginalised communities whose votes traditionally favour opposition parties.

After multiple rounds of discussions between government and Opposition floor leaders, a consensus was reached to hold a debate on SIR, preceded by a debate marking 150 years of Vande Mataram.

Rahul Gandhi is expected to bring up allegations of “vote theft” and press for answers from the Election Commission of India, with the Opposition asserting that voter rolls have been riddled with irregularities -- including mass deletions, duplicate entries, and procedural lapses. Gandhi has echoed these concerns in recent media briefings in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Karnataka.

The Congress is also likely to spotlight the mounting pressure on Booth Level Officers involved in the SIR re-verification. Opposition parties allege the exercise has created untenable working conditions, citing reports of alleged suicides linked to stress and excessive workload. The BJP has countered these claims, accusing the Opposition of politicising an already sensitive issue.

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, will open the debate on election reforms in the House on Tuesday.

The opposition has been demanding a discussion on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Parliament since the monsoon session, but the government suggested having a debate on election reforms, citing that the Election Commission was an independent, autonomous and constitutional body.

The BJP is expected to field senior leaders Nishikant Dubey, P P Chaudhary, Abhijit Gangopadhyay and Sanjay Jaiswal in the debate which will take place over two days.

Besides Gandhi, the Congress is expected to field K C Venugopal, Manish Tewari, Varsha Gaikwad, Mohammed Jawed, Ujjwal Raman Singh, Isa Khan, Ravi Mallu, Imran Masood, Gowaal Padavi and Jothimani in the debate.

(PTI inputs)

In a crucial week of the winter session, the Lok Sabha is set to hold a long-awaited debate on electoral reforms -- most notably the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of India’s voter list. The move comes after sustained demands and a consensus between the government and the Opposition last week.