Pointing out that dissent among Election Commissioners only went to underline that no constitutional body was being subjected to dictatorship, the BJP said on Wednesday that what finally mattered was that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was “an exercise in unanimity”.BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra, in a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, said that discussions among the Election Commissioners and the decision to undertake the SIR “though consensus” are “signs of a vibrant democracy”.Advertisement“Ever since the Modi government came to power in 2014, Opposition parties have been collapsing one after the other… The Congress party, in particular… Realising that when it cannot win, they are undermining the institutions of the country,” Patra said.He was responding to an Indian Express investigation published on September 23, 2026, which stated that over the past 10 months, Election Commissioners had officially objected at least 14 times to certain decisions and administrative instructions under the SIR process.The report had sparked fierce backlash from the Opposition, renewing ‘vote chori’ (voter theft) allegations against the BJP. Demands were also made for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.AdvertisementMust Read | ‘Illegal, unauthorised’: Election Commissioners objected to Form 6 changePatra, however, said that this latest tumult is also in line with the Opposition’s move of “attacking the constitutional institutions of the country and finding ways to discredit them”.He stressed that the absence of communication between the three Election Commissioners was actually a bigger marker of a dictatorship, and that there being 14 correspondences among them, as The Indian Express article states, was a sign of a “healthy democracy”, where issues were discussed, notes recorded, and ultimately, a decision taken.“This is democracy in its entirety, where deliberations are taking place,” Patra said.Quoting from the Election Commission of India’s own press note in response to The Indian Express article, the BJP spokesperson asserted that the polls body has itself made it clear that after all official democratic deliberations, the SIR was “ultimately carried out with consensus”.“In other words, all three Commissioners were in agreement on SIR. There was no difference of opinion, disagreement or divergence of views of any kind,” Patra said, adding, “By functioning in a democratic manner, constitutional institutions are safeguarding democracy.”Also Read | What Election Commission rift reveals: Cloud over its conductOn allegations of ‘vote chori’, the BJP spokesperson said that poll figures from 2014 to the present were already shared during past press conferences. “Now, figures from the recent Bengal polls will also be presented,” Patra said.He also attacked the Opposition’s narrative that they had lost in Bengal because voter names were deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR process. “Another Indian Express article that examined the 20 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal that witnessed the highest voter deletions show that TMC have won the most seats here – 13. The Congress won one seat and the BJP, only six,” Patra said.Also, on allegations that Gyanesh Kumar’s appointment as Chief Election Commissioner has been ‘advantageous’ to the BJP, the BJP spokesperson pointed out the BJP had been winning elections by big margins well before Kumar took the post on February 19, 2025.He also gave instances of the BJP forming several governments at the state level between 2014 and Kumar’s appointment as CEC by taking on the Congress for alleged irregularities in relation to the Election Commission during its tenure.“Irregularities and scams originated from the Congress itself… K V K Sundaram served as Election Commissioner from 1958 to 1967. He was made Chairman of the Law Commission and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan. Nagendra Singh served as Election Commissioner from 1972 to 1973 and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan,” Patra alleged.“R K Trivedi served as Election Commissioner from 1982 to 1985. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan and was also appointed Governor… T N Seshan served as Election Commissioner and CEC from 1990 to 1996. In 1996, he contested an election on behalf of the Congress… T N Seshan had used terms such as ‘donkeys’ and ‘rascals’ to describe fellow commissioners appointed alongside him,” he added.The BJP spokesperson also cited examples of M S Gill, who served as Election Commissioner and CEC from 1996 to 2001 and who later became a Congress Rajya Sabha member and also served as a Minister; of J M Lyngdoh, who served as CEC from 2001 to 2004 and later joined the Congress; and of Navin Chawla, who was alleged to have been “appointed by Sonia Gandhi”.you may like“What position did Sonia Gandhi hold when she appointed Navin Chawla as an Election Commissioner? This was in 2005. In 2009, the then CEC N Gopalaswami wrote a letter to the then President Pratibha Patil stating that Navin Chawla should be removed from the post,” Patra said, adding that the latter was, however, elevated as CEC.“…Overall, it must be decided whether democracy is reflected when three officials exchange correspondence, share their respective views and concerns, and ultimately arrive at a conclusion through consensus, or whether democracy consists of ‘writing letters in the same language’ and then arriving at the same conclusion. There could be no better time for democracy than the present,” he said.The BJP spokesperson also pointed out that the Supreme Court, on May 27, 2026, directly upheld the legal validity of the SIR. “But, if there is no trust in the Supreme Court, no trust in the Election Commission, and no trust in EVMs, then, one must place trust in the people. It is the people who cast their votes, and it is the people who decide whether a party wins or loses,” Patra said.