Bhopal, May 30 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson Mithun Ahirwar on Saturday alleged serious irregularities in the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in the state, claiming that two new voter ID cards were issued in his name despite the poll body’s claims of strict door-to-door verification.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress office in Bhopal, Ahirwar questioned the credibility of the voter verification exercise conducted by the ECI.

The SIR exercise in Madhya Pradesh was launched in November 2025 as part of the ECI’s nationwide voter roll verification drive and the process was completed with publication of final electoral roll in February this year.

Under the process, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) were assigned to conduct house-to-house verification of voters.

Ahirwar said the ECI had repeatedly claimed that the process was transparent, impartial and based on physical verification of electors.

However, he alleged that his own experience exposed serious flaws in the system.

“During the previous SIR process, my name was removed from the voter list. The Election Commission acted only after the matter was highlighted in the media,” Ahirwar added.

He alleged that instead of simply restoring his name to the electoral roll, authorities issued two fresh voter ID cards in his name.

According to the Congress leader, both voter ID cards carry the same name, father’s name and address, while only the Voter ID numbers are different.

Questioning the functioning of the verification process, Ahirwar said the ECI should explain how duplicate Voter IDs could be generated for one individual despite the availability of Aadhaar and other identity documents.

“If BLOs were actually conducting door-to-door verification, how did two separate Voter IDs get issued in the name of one person? The Election Commission should clarify which Voter ID is valid and which one is invalid,” he asked?

Referring to an earlier statement allegedly made by the Election Commission that deleted voters would still be allowed to vote using old Voter ID cards, Ahirwar questioned whether he would now be eligible to cast votes using all three cards — his old card and the two newly issued ones.

“Has one individual effectively been granted the right to cast three votes? If this can happen with a political party spokesperson, one can imagine what ordinary citizens must be facing,” he alleged.

Demanding an impartial inquiry, the Congress leader said an investigation should be conducted into possible duplicate voters and deletion of genuine names from electoral rolls during the SIR process.

–IANS

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