Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], December 20 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Gujarat State President Isudan Gadhvi, while speaking on the SIR issue, criticised the BJP government following the removal of 7,373,000 voters from the voter lists voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. Gadhvi said that the large-scale deletions are a sign that the BJP is "rattled" and anticipates a significant defeat in the upcoming elections.
Speaking on the SIR issue, Gadhvi alleged that 7,373,000 voters were removed from the electoral lists across Gujarat. In response, AAP has mobilised a dedicated team of 20,000 Booth Level Agents (BLA-2) to support citizens whose names have been struck off.
"The BJP's 30 years of misgovernance have now started to anger the public," Gadhvi said, adding that the removal of such a vast number of voters suggests the ruling party is losing its grip. He noted that widespread dissatisfaction is growing among various sections of society, including farmers, unemployed youth, women, and the middle class.
The AAP leader highlighted several grievances contributing to this "agitating mood," specifically citing farmers' struggles, low salaries, lack of justice for employees, and general anger toward the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Gadhvi expressed complete confidence that the public will now place their trust in the Aam Aadmi Party. He announced that AAP would conduct a detailed analysis of the emerging data to identify affected individuals. He urged anyone whose name has been deleted to contact the party directly, promising that the 20,000-member team would provide the necessary assistance to get their names restored to the voter list.
According to the Gujarat's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Hareet Shukla, before the publication of the draft electoral roll, a total of 5,08,43,436 voters were registered in the state. However, after the publication of the draft electoral roll, the total number of voters has come down to 4,34,70,109, indicating that 73,73,327 voters' names were removed during the SIR process.
To ensure that no eligible elector is left behind, Chief Electoral Officers, DEOs and EROs conducted extensive voter awareness campaigns and held multiple meetings with political parties to explain the process and share progress updates. BLOs carried out house-to-house visits to all electors whose names appeared in the rolls as of October 27, distributing Enumeration Forms and making at least three follow-up visits for collection.