Union Minister Accuses Congress of Misleading People Over Electoral Rolls, Questions Party's Allegations on EVMs

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw has accused the Congress of misleading people over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Addressing a public meeting in Jaipur as part of the BJP’s nationwide campaign, ‘Save Democracy – Remove Anarchy’, he said SIR was not being conducted for the first time and was aimed at cleaning up electoral rolls. Mr Vaishnaw questioned the Congress over its allegations of irregularities in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). He said voters had given different political parties an opportunity to serve since the introduction of EVMs, with the BJP winning on some occasions and the Congress on others. However, the BJP had never questioned the institutions. He pointed out that the Congress had not raised such questions when it won elections in Keralam. The Union Minister asked the Congress to raise issues in Parliament rather than on social media. He said the government was ready to discuss every issue in Parliament and that merely displaying a copy of the Constitution was not enough; its spirit must also be understood. Mr Vaishnaw said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken the country to new heights and that India was now capable of striking enemy territory. He said Naxalism, which had grown during the Congress rule, had been eliminated under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. He added that a similar campaign would be pursued against drug abuse. Earlier, Mr Vaishnaw met Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma at his residence. They discussed the expansion and modernisation of the railway network in the state and ways to improve passenger amenities. Speaking to the media at Jaipur airport, Mr Vaishnaw said railway and state government officials were jointly investigating the recent blast on a railway track in Sri Ganganagar. He added that the state government would decide on an NIA probe after examining the preliminary evidence. The Railways Minister also said special trains were being operated to meet the additional passenger demand during Diwali.