Amit Shah Claims 3 Crore Votes Deleted in SIR Belonged to ‘Infiltrators’ Who ‘Never Existed’

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday accused the Congress-led INDIA bloc of holding its Delhi rally to protect alleged infiltrators rather than voters, claiming they constituted a vote bank for the Congress.

Addressing a gathering at Hyderabad’s Mozamjahi Market, Shah defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, claiming it had identified around three crore ineligible entries, which he attributed to alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators.

“Three crore votes were those which never existed. These votes were those of Bangladeshi infiltrators,” Shah said, questioning the Opposition’s objection to their removal from electoral rolls.

He accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of opposing the deletion of such entries and asserted that the BJP would remove every infiltrator from the voter lists.

Shah also challenged the Opposition to participate in a special parliamentary discussion on the SIR exercise, alleged infiltration and electronic voting machines (EVMs). He said the government was ready to convene a special session of Parliament for the debate.

Rejecting Gandhi’s claim that 13 crore people had lost their voting rights, Shah argued that the figure included people who had migrated, deceased voters and duplicate entries. He claimed that 6.15 crore people had shifted residences, while 2.8 crore to three crore had died and around one crore entries were duplicates.

Shah defended the SIR exercise by citing the BJP’s electoral victories in 2014, 2019 and 2024, when, he said, no such revision had been conducted. He also listed Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam among the states where the BJP and its allies had secured victories since the 2024 general elections.

Turning to the Opposition’s recent mock impeachment proceedings against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Shah took a swipe at Gandhi, saying he would never become Prime Minister in Parliament.

The Home Minister also criticised the Congress’s record during the UPA government, alleging that it was responsible for scams worth ₹12 lakh crore during its 10 years in power. He questioned whether the country should entrust the party with power again.

On Telangana, Shah accused the Congress government of failing to fulfil its six guarantees and contrasted its record with the Modi government’s achievements. He cited the abrogation of Article 370, the construction of the Ram Temple, the abolition of instant triple talaq and efforts to tackle terrorism and Naxalism.

Shah called for a door-to-door campaign to counter what he described as misinformation spread by the Congress about the SIR exercise, while asserting that the BJP would continue working towards its political expansion in Telangana.