Bhopal, Nov 8 (NationPress) The Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Hemant Khandelwal has accused the Congress of misleading the public with unfounded claims regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) initiative, which commenced on November 4 in the state.

Khandelwal's comments were in response to Congress' assertions that the SIR initiative is aimed at disenfranchising voters in Madhya Pradesh.

He clarified that the SIR process is a standard electoral roll activity conducted periodically to strengthen democratic practices.

"The SIR is not a new endeavor; similar exercises occurred during previous Congress administrations without any opposition from them. Their current stance is misleading the public," stated Khandelwal.

In response to Congress' claims of the SIR process targeting eligible voters, Khandelwal remarked, "This is an entirely fabricated narrative by Congress, aimed at causing disruption to the SIR exercise."

The Leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Umang Singhar, accused the BJP of a conspiracy to eliminate approximately 50,000 eligible voters, particularly in tribal regions.

Senior Congress figure Sajjan Singh Verma, who leads a committee addressing the SIR concerns, previously informed the media that more than 1.5 lakh RSS workers have been enlisted for the Block Level Officers (BLOs) positions in Madhya Pradesh.

Verma further highlighted that the contact numbers for around 28,000 BLOs were omitted from the list provided by the Election Commission.

"Why aren’t BLO contact numbers included in the list given to the Congress party?" Verma questioned.

Former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh joined the press conference, raising concerns about inconsistencies in the voter lists shared with political parties and election officials.

He called for the voter list to be finalized as soon as the election dates are announced.

The Election Commission has launched the second phase of the SIR process across nine states, including Madhya Pradesh, and three Union Territories since November 4.

This SIR exercise will run until December 4, with one BLO assigned to each of the 65,014 polling stations in the state, conducting door-to-door enumeration.

The BLOs are tasked with delivering enumeration forms directly to voters.

Claims and objections will be accepted until January 8, and after resolving all claims by January 31, the finalized voter list will be published on February 7.