EC has unleashed chaos, absolute mayhem: Congress slams poll body on SIR

Criticising the Election Commission for the manner in which it was conducting the SIR, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday (July 13, 2026) said the poll watchdog has unleashed "chaos and absolute mayhem" that is sparing nobody.

The Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, shared on X an article by R.S. Sharma, former Director-General of the Unique Identification Authority of India, in which he stated that asking people to prove citizenship is the state's failure.

In his post, Mr. Ramesh said, "This is a powerful and courageous article by a very distinguished former civil servant with a background in science and technology."

"The Election Commission has unleashed chaos and absolute mayhem that is sparing nobody," the Congress leader said.

The Congress last week had alleged that the Election Commission is functioning as an "arm of the BJP" and claimed that the SIR was part of the "Modi-Shah strategy" to "manufacture a majority" by manipulating the electoral rolls.

Mr. Ramesh had asserted that nobody is against the process of electoral roll revision but what is being opposed is the manner in which the Election Commission (EC) is "managing, coordinating, and manipulating" the entire process.

The EC has all along maintained that the poll roll revision was aimed at removing dead, duplicate, shifted and absent voters as well as foreign nationals.