Lakhs of voters may be excluded from electoral rolls in Rajasthan: Congress

Lakhs of voters, especially those who support the Congress, may be excluded from the electoral rolls in Rajasthan during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the Opposition party said here on Saturday (November 29, 2025). The Congress alleged that the deletion of voters’ names was being carried out to give “electoral advantage” to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC) held an extended strategy meeting in Jaipur to discuss the SIR process and review the preparations for the party’s mega rally in Delhi on December 14 against alleged “vote theft”. Congress leaders discussed the district-wise turnout plans for the rally, and said over 50,000 party workers from the State would participate in the rally.

Internal assessments had indicated that the names of 25 lakh voters could be struck off as the Election Commission of India (EC) had marked over 27 lakh voter forms as uncollected, RPCC president Govind Singh Dotasra said. “There are over 40 Assembly segments where 25,000 to 35,000 voter forms have not been collected.” Mr. Dotasra said.

The State Congress chief said the Opposition party would not allow the BJP to succeed in its designs to omit the voters’ names in the Congress strongholds “in collusion with the Election Commission”. He called upon the District Congress Committee chiefs to personally track every polling booth and ensure that no eligible voter was removed from the lists.

Senior party leaders, including All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot, and the Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly Tika Ram Jully, attended the closed door meeting. Instructions were issued to booth-level agents to intensify the verification of voters marked as ‘shifted’, ‘absent’, or ‘dead’.

Mr. Pilot said the elections would become meaningless if poor, Dalit, tribal and elderly voters were disenfranchised in the SIR exercise. Mr. Randhawa said the Congress, which had led the Independence movement, would fight a major battle to free the nation from the BJP’s “dictatorial rule”.

Mr. Gehlot said the country’s present political climate demanded a collective struggle to safeguard democratic institutions. “The SIR has been hastily initiated in Rajasthan and the time allotted [for the exercise] is too short. Only two months have been given, while the process requires four to six months,” Mr. Gehlot told journalists after the meeting ended.

The Congress leadership asked the district units to finalise travel plans in the next three days for the participants in the rally to be held at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi.