Rijiju challenges Congress over poll defeats and electoral roll revision

Kiren Rijiju posed five questions to Congress over poll defeats and electoral roll revision. The exchange deepens the political and legal dispute surrounding the Election Commission.

In Short

• Minister alleged the opposition party was undermining Constitution and Indian democracy
• He cited Congress's 44-seat tally in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls
• Gyanesh Kumar became Chief Election Commissioner only in February 2025

Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday challenged the Congress to explain its electoral defeats as he questioned the party's criticism of the Election Commission and opposition to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

Rijiju accused the Congress of trying to undermine the Constitution and democracy. His remarks came amid a legal and political confrontation over the revision exercise and allegations about the functioning of the Election Commission.

In a post on X, Rijiju posed five questions to the opposition party. Referring to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he asked why the Congress was reduced to 44 seats even though election commissioners had been appointed by its government.

"How did Congress get only 44 MPs in 2014 Lok Sabha election when Election Commissioners were appointed by their Govt?" he asked.

Referring to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Rijiju asked how the Congress suffered a third consecutive defeat when Gyanesh Kumar, the incumbent Chief Election Commissioner, was not heading the poll panel.

Kumar was an election commissioner during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, having assumed office on March 15 that year. He became the Chief Election Commissioner on February 19, 2025, according to PTI.

Rijiju also asked whether Congress chief ministers currently in office would resign and apologise for forming governments after elections held between 2014 and 2026.

Defending the revision of electoral rolls, Rijiju argued that the names of illegal immigrants, deceased voters and people who had shifted residence, as well as duplicate entries, should be removed. He asked whether the Congress opposed such deletions.

He also referred to earlier intensive revisions of electoral rolls and asked whether similar exercises conducted in 1952-56, 1958-61, 1965-66, 1983-84, 1987-88, 1993, 1995 and 2002-2004 were illegal.

"One family party with outside forces is trying to destroy the Constitution & Indian Democracy," the minister alleged.

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on October 26, the Election Commission rejected allegations that the Chief Election Commissioner had taken decisions unilaterally. It said orders concerning the special intensive revision were unanimously approved by the three-member poll panel, PTI reported.

Rijiju's questions centred on the Congress's electoral defeats, its criticism of the Election Commission and its opposition to the revision of electoral rolls, while the poll panel maintained that decisions on the exercise were taken unanimously.

- Ends