New Delhi, Oct 28 : As the Election Commission of India (ECI) launched the second phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists across 12 States and Union Territories including poll-bound Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, and Puducherry, the Opposition parties, including the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), on Tuesday accused the government of misusing the ECI to change the Constitution by other means.

Speaking to IANS, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said, 'What was their slogan inside Parliament, outside Parliament, and in public rallies? 'Abki Baar 400 Paar.' Their intention was clear ' to change the Constitution and take away the voting rights of minorities, backward classes, and Scheduled Castes. When they failed to do that directly, they began using the ECI through mechanisms like the NRC. That's why yesterday, the ECI could not even specify which caste or religion the names removed from the voter list belonged to.'

Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput questioned the transparency of the process, saying, 'Announcing SIR should be done in a proper and legal manner. But in Bihar, where it was implemented, many questions remain unanswered. Even now, the Election Commission should clarify how many new voters have been added, how many infiltrators' votes have been blocked, and address all the questions raised by political parties regarding infiltrators. How many such names were deleted? The public deserves transparency.'

Congress spokesperson Abhay Dubey echoed similar concerns, alleging that the BJP is using the Election Commission for political gains.

'The Modi government and the BJP gave the slogan of '400 plus' because they wanted to undermine the Constitution framed by B.R. Ambedkar. The people of India stopped them once, but now they are trying to achieve their goals through the Election Commission. The ECI claimed that the SIR in Bihar was successful, but everyone in Bihar knows how voter names were illegally deleted,' he said.

RJD leader and Mahagathbandhan's CM face Tejashwi Yadav said, 'This exercise was pre-decided. They had already said they would do it, and now they are going ahead with it. Nothing surprising.'

Prashant Kishor, founder of the Jan Suraaj Party also reacted and said, 'The BJP can use all the tricks they want ' remove names, intimidate people, or harass them. But, when the public turns against you, no SIR or FIR can save you.'

JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey added, 'India must not allow its rights to be taken away, especially fundamental rights like voting. This is exactly what the BJP government seems to be attempting. It is the duty of every citizen and political party to safeguard these democratic rights.'

Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad said, 'No voter should be left out of the voter list. No one should lose the right to vote ' the most precious right given to us by B.R. Ambedkar. Nothing is more valuable than this.'

/IANS