Chandigarh: Former Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday accused the Congress of targeting constitutional institutions such as the Election Commission, claiming that the party has lost its support base across the country.Speaking to the mediapersons outside the office of Punjab’s chief electoral officer (CEO), Jakhar said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had been completed in Punjab “without the same Congress raising any objection to the exercise”.The BJP functionary praised Punjab CEO Anindita Mitra for “completing the revision of electoral rolls in accordance with the rules”. Sharing voter figures from the assembly constituencies represented by the current and former Punjab Congress presidents, chief minister Bhagwant Mann, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Punjab Aam Aadmi Party president Aman Arora, Jakhar claimed that booth-level agents (BLAs) of the respective parties did not raise any objections during the SIR process.He said political parties had collectively appointed 89,000 BLAs in Punjab for the SIR exercise and the Election Commission shared information with these agents at every stage and obtained their written agreement regarding the process.He claimed that throughout the exercise, not a single eligible voter in Punjab had come forward to say that their name had been wrongly deleted from the electoral rolls.Taking potshots at the AAP and Congress, Jakhar said, “Punjab Congress leaders were nevertheless travelling to Delhi to protest against SIR.” He added, “AAP leaders had also protested against the exercise in Chandigarh on Oct 10, while representatives of both parties had thanked the chief electoral officer on Oct 12, the day final electoral rolls were published.”The BJP functionary alleged that the opposition was turning the exercise into a political issue to regain its lost support, even though, according to him, it was being conducted through “a uniform procedure across the country and similar exercises had taken place several times before”.He alleged that Congress lacked grassroots workers in most states and had failed to appoint BLAs in those areas. Instead of strengthening its organisation, the Congress is “concentrating its efforts on weakening constitutional institutions”, Jakhar said.He asked, “If SIR has been completed properly in Punjab, how can the same exercise, conducted under the same rules, be wrong in other states?”He asked the opposition to bring forward any case in which an eligible voter’s name had been wrongly deleted. He added, “Eligible voters can still have their names added to the electoral rolls. SIR does not mean deleting votes; it means correcting and updating electoral rolls.”Jakhar questioned, “How could removing the names of deceased voters, voters who had shifted residence, or duplicate entries be considered illegal?”“The real issue is whether any eligible voter had been wrongly excluded,” he said. Such voters should come forward so that the Election Commission could restore their registration, the senior functionary added.Condemns Jhota killingExpressing grief over the murder of Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa, Sunil Jakhar said Bhagwant Mann had “lost the right to call himself chief minister”. He alleged that drugs were being sold under the govt’s patronage. Jakhar questioned how the person accused of killing Jhota had obtained an arms licence despite having four cases registered against him. He asked, “Whether this indicated that drug traffickers enjoyed govt protection?” He further alleged that the AAP govt’s agenda was to create such fear in society that no one dared to raise their voice, allowing what he described as its “system of plunder” to continue.
