Citing the BJP’s performance in Gujarat civic polls, Amit Shah challenged the Congress to explain its electoral setbacks, saying the current SIR exercise began only after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
BY PC Bureau
New Delhi/ October 13: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday challenged Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, arguing that the Congress leader’s record of electoral defeats long predated the current exercise. He also sought to counter the Opposition’s street protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar by pointing to the BJP’s recent victories in Gujarat.
Shah noted that the current SIR exercise began only after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, while the Congress had been losing polls since Gandhi entered politics. He cited the Gujarat civic elections, in which the BJP won 38 of the 44 seats in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, located in the state capital and within Shah’s own Lok Sabha constituency.
The BJP also retained control of the Thara and Okha municipalities. Its vote share in the Gandhinagar civic body increased by 10 percentage points compared with the previous election, Shah said.
“The massive victory in Gujarat reflects the mood of the voters… the electorate of Gujarat—and indeed India—continues to stand like a rock behind Narendra Modi,” he said.
VIDEO | Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah (@AmitShah) says, “I want to tell Rahul Gandhi ji that your action plan to protect infiltrators under the pretext of SIR, the people of the country have understood it very well, and now the people of India are not going to fall for your deception. I also want to tell Rahul ji and his colleagues that for the resounding defeat in 2029, make up your mind once again. In the 2029 general elections, the NDA is going to come to power with a resounding majority, and the Congress, once again, for the fourth consecutive time.”
(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/bIyFWTfmBd)
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 13, 2026
Shah argued that the Congress had failed to win an election in the area for 41 years and challenged Gandhi to explain whether the latest results could be attributed to SIR or reflected the continued popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. “You need to introspect,” he said.
He also pointed to the Congress’s failure to win seats in recent by-elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, using the results to question the Opposition’s claims about electoral processes.
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Shah dismisses street protests as a route to public support
Taking aim at the Opposition’s demonstrations in New Delhi, Shah said mobilising party workers and assembling crowds in the capital would not automatically translate into public trust across the country.
“The voice of the country resides in the fields, farms, villages, remote hills, forests, and riverbanks. You have no reach there,” he said.
He argued that the Congress had faced prolonged electoral setbacks in states including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Shah also predicted that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance would defeat Gandhi and the Opposition again in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Rahul Gandhi vows to continue SIR resistance
Earlier on Monday, Gandhi hosted a high tea for leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc and student organisations before addressing a press conference on the electoral roll revision.
Gandhi maintained that the campaign against alleged irregularities in SIR and what he described as the “unilateral” functioning of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would continue. He framed the protests as part of a broader struggle for the “restoration of democracy”.
The exchange underscores the widening political confrontation over SIR, with the Opposition questioning the integrity of the electoral roll revision process and the BJP countering those allegations by citing its electoral victories.
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