Will oppose implementation of SIR of voter lists in Kerala: Priyanka Gandhi

Wayanad (Kerala): Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said the party will oppose the implementation of the SIR of voter lists in Kerala, just as it has done inside and outside Parliament. Priyanka, who represents the Wayanad constituency, was responding to reporters' queries about the Election Commission's move to conduct Special Intensive Revision in several states, including Kerala. "The Election Commission is planning to carry out SIR of voter lists in many states, including Kerala, and we will strongly oppose it," she said. "Given how they (EC) have done it in Bihar, we have fought against it in Parliament and outside it. We will continue to fight against it everywhere," the Congress MP said.

Calling the move "the only way of committing fraud and cheating in the election," she alleged that the SIR exercise, as carried out in Bihar, "undermines democracy." "We have seen what they did in Bihar and how they implemented SIR there. If that is what they are going to do in every state, then it is an affront to democracy, and we have to fight it," Priyanka said. She is on a two-day visit to Wayanad, during which she will inaugurate various development projects in her constituency. She arrived at Karipur airport in the morning and travelled to Wayanad by road, party sources said. Earlier in the day, she inaugurated the newly constructed building of the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Government Ayurveda Dispensary in Ernad, Malappuram district, which falls under her constituency, they added.