'Voter fraud' row: Jairam Ramesh 'changes tone' on meeting Election Commission amid opposition MPs protest against SIR

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who on Sunday afternoon had acknowledged its letter granting an appointment on Monday noon to an Opposition delegation comprising no more than 30 members, “changed his tone” at the 11th hour and insisted on EC meeting all the 300 Opposition MPs protesting against special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar and alleged “voter fraud”.

Ramesh had on Sunday written to EC informing it of Opposition MPs to take out a “peaceful march” from Parliament House to Nirvachan Sadan after 11.30 am on Monday. He requested a collective meeting between the MPs and the commission to discuss issues including the SIR underway in Bihar and proposed to be undertaken in other states.


EC responded soon after, granting the appointment but stating that only 30 persons from the opposition parties could be taken in “due to limitation of space”. The EC letter was shared via email with Jairam Ramesh.

An email response was received from Jairam Ramesh at 14:35 hours on Sunday, saying “many thanks”. However, Monday’s appointment never happened as Ramesh suddenly started insisting that all 300 MPs be allowed to “collectively” meet and interact with the EC.

Meanwhile, the EC in post on X, uploaded a series of documents relating to SIR findings and purpose, truth of SIR at the field level, the full involvement of political parties, through booth level agents, in meetings with booth level officers (BLOs) before, at the time of and after the publication of the draft electoral roll for Bihar. The links show that lists of the 65 lakh electors reported by BLOs as dead, permanently shifted or untraceable, enrolled at multiple places and those yet to return their enumeration forms, were duly shared with the BLAs by July 20.

The EC also attached video testimonials of representatives of political parties including Congress, RJD and CPI, as well as its daily bulletins on filing of claims and objections to Bihar’s draft roll published on August 1, 2025.

On Rahul Gandhi’s “voter fraud” allegations, EC on Monday reiterated that he should, in the wake of fresh notices sent by Maharashtra, Haryana and Karnataka chief electoral officer, make use of the time still on hand to either submit a signed declaration to EC, affirming that his allegations are true, or apologise to the nation.