New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to debate the controversy surrounding electoral rolls in a special session of Parliament. His remarks came ahead of the Congress led INDIA bloc’s planned protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.
Addressing the Uttar Pradesh BJP state executive committee meeting in Lucknow, Shah said the BJP was ready to discuss the issue in Parliament and had nothing to hide. He accused the Opposition of disrupting parliamentary proceedings instead of engaging in debate.
Shah alleged that Rahul Gandhi preferred protests on the streets over discussions inside Parliament. He also cited the BJP’s electoral victories in Haryana, Maharashtra, Bihar, Delhi, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal, arguing that the Opposition had begun questioning the electoral process after facing defeats.
The Congress had initially planned a mock Parliament session before renaming the event a public impeachment of the Chief Election Commissioner. The programme, scheduled for Friday, was postponed because of rain in Delhi and will now take place on Saturday. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is expected to move the proposed motion ahead of the INDIA bloc’s rally at Ramlila Ground on Sunday.
The Opposition has been demanding Kumar’s resignation, suspension of the SIR exercise and restoration of electoral rolls that existed before the revision. The exercise has reportedly removed around 13 crore names from voter lists, representing approximately 14 per cent of the earlier total.
The controversy has repeatedly disrupted parliamentary proceedings. During the December 2025 debate on electoral reforms, Rahul Gandhi challenged Shah to respond to his allegations of vote theft. Shah maintained that he would decide the order of his speech, while Opposition MPs later staged a walkout.
In April, notices seeking Kumar’s removal were rejected by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan.
Meanwhile, Shah expressed confidence that the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh would return for a third consecutive term with a substantial majority.
His remarks followed the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections, in which the BJP won six of the 11 graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies, while the Samajwadi Party secured five. Akhilesh Yadav described the result as a double defeat for the BJP and projected it as a positive sign for the SP ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
