The BJP and Congress traded charges after the EC approved searchable electoral rolls. The row has intensified scrutiny of alleged voter-list irregularities and the poll body's systems.
Newdelhi,Oct 18, 2026 20:50 IST
The BJP on Sunday accused the Congress of pursuing "shoot and scoot" politics after the opposition party claimed that the Election Commission had decided to provide readable electoral rolls to political parties because people across the country were protesting against alleged "vote chors", news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The exchange followed Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's statement that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and the Congress had consistently demanded searchable electoral rolls for all political parties over the past two years.
In a post on X, Ramesh alleged that the Election Commission of India had repeatedly rejected the demand. "The demand was repeatedly refused by the ECI, which stopped providing searchable voter rolls in 2018 when the Congress found lakhs of bogus voters in Madhya Pradesh. The demand was denied for 8 years to enable Vote Chori," he said.
Ramesh said the EC issued an order on October 15 stating that electoral rolls would be provided to political parties in a searchable format for the Special Summary Revision, which he said had resumed after a two-year gap in 17 states and Union territories.
"This is because the whole nation is on the streets against the Vote Chors," he claimed. "Every time Vote Chori is caught, the Modi Govt adopts a new tactic: stopping readable voter rolls, fake voter additions, SIR. But not this time."
Responding to Ramesh, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari asked the Congress to "stop the politics of shoot and scoot". According to PTI, Bhandari said Gandhi had last year alleged the addition of "1 lakh bogus voters" in Karnataka's Mahadevapura Assembly segment while seeking searchable electoral rolls, but had yet to file a formal complaint or submit an affidavit over the allegation.
"Mr Jairam Ramesh, your tweet explains that you are underconfident with respect to your case in the Supreme Court," Bhandari said in a post on X.
On October 12, Gandhi and leaders of other opposition parties filed a petition in the Supreme Court over alleged large-scale deletion of voters and irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, PTI reported.
Ramesh also called for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and changes to the poll body's systems. "He simply has to go. But that alone will not be enough. The ECI itself along with its IT system has to be thoroughly revamped," he said, adding that nothing could save the CEC.
The dispute centres on the format of electoral rolls and the opposition's allegations of irregularities, with the Congress citing the EC's October 15 order and the BJP questioning why Gandhi had not filed a formal complaint or affidavit over his earlier claims.
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