Why Congress Defending Duplicate & Dead Voters?: Sudhanshu Trivedi

• BJP questions Congress opposition to voter verification
• Trivedi cites duplicate and deceased voter concerns
• Congress’ electoral decline linked to its own politics
• BJP asks if Congress verified by-election voter rolls

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 7th Oct: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi on Tuesday accused the Congress of creating confusion over voter-list verification and questioned its opposition to identifying duplicate, deceased, shifted and non-traceable voters.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP Central Office in New Delhi, Trivedi argued that Congress leaders had themselves raised concerns about duplicate voters and irregularities in electoral rolls in the past, but were now questioning the verification exercise.
He asked the Congress to clarify whether its earlier statements were correct or whether its present objections represented its position.

BJP cites earlier verification exercises
Trivedi compared voter-roll verification with exercises carried out in other government schemes.

He claimed that verification of ration cards had identified 5.8 crore suspicious or non-existent beneficiaries, while verification of MGNREGA records after 2019 had identified 4.45 crore people who, according to him, did not actually exist but were receiving wages.

“If 4.5 crore suspicious beneficiaries could be identified in MGNREGA and 5.8 crore suspicious ration card beneficiaries could be identified, then what extraordinary knowledge does the Congress possess that makes it believe suspicious entries cannot exist in the voter list?” he asked.

The BJP leader also referred to the Congress’ repeated claims concerning around 13 crore voters, saying the figure cited in the political debate includes alleged deceased, duplicate, shifted and non-traceable entries.

According to Trivedi, the figure includes 2.8 crore deceased voters, 1 crore duplicate voters, 6.8 crore shifted voters and 3 crore absent or non-traceable voters. He said people with legitimate claims should have the opportunity to provide the necessary documents and establish their eligibility.

Trivedi questions Congress’ electoral decline
Trivedi also linked the Congress’ electoral decline to its political performance rather than voter-list verification.

He said the Congress had already lost power in states accounting for 228 Lok Sabha seats before the previous Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conducted in 2003.

He cited Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Odisha as examples, arguing that the Congress’ decline in these states began decades before Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah emerged as major national political figures.

Trivedi also questioned Rahul Gandhi’s campaigning record, asking how many Assembly elections he had contested politically with sustained, week-long or longer campaigns on the ground.

BJP questions Congress over by-elections
The BJP spokesperson further asked whether the Congress had itself verified electoral rolls for the ongoing by-elections, where its candidates and election agents are participating.
He questioned why the party was raising objections to voter verification while simultaneously participating in elections conducted using the same electoral rolls.

Trivedi also accused Congress of repeatedly questioning constitutional and public institutions, including the Election Commission, and asked how many of its allegations against such institutions had ultimately been proven.

He cited Rahul Gandhi’s earlier criticism of electoral processes and other institutions as part of what he described as a broader pattern of allegations against democratic institutions.

Five questions to Congress
Trivedi posed five direct questions to the Congress:
1. How many constitutional institutions has the Congress accused, and how many allegations have been proven?
2. If suspicious beneficiaries can be identified in government schemes, why should suspicious voter entries not be verified?
3. Who is responsible for the Congress’ electoral decline in states where it lost ground before the 2003 SIR?
4. In how many elections has Rahul Gandhi campaigned continuously on the ground for one or two weeks?
5. Has the Congress verified voter lists for the ongoing by-elections or not?

Trivedi also claimed that the Congress had failed to take all its allies into confidence over the voter-list issue. Referring to the party’s proposed protest, he argued that the numbers being cited by Congress showed that several allies were not fully supporting its position.

The BJP leader said the Congress should first examine its own political performance rather than attributing its electoral setbacks to voter-list verification.