Chandigarh: Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon on Friday slammed chief minister Bhagwant Mann over his speech in the Punjab assembly regarding the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls .




Referring to the SIR exercise in Punjab in which final electoral rolls were published on Oct 12, Dhillon, in a written statement, said, “You (CM Mann) run the state govt, your officers carried out the exercise, and you yourself conducted the SIR. Now you are the one raising questions about it.”




Dhillon pointed out, “From deputy commissioners and sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) to officials at the booth level, all the personnel involved were under the state govt’s administration. The Centre had no role in the exercise.”




He asked, “If your officers made mistakes during the SIR, why did your party leaders visit the Election Commission and claim that everything was in order?”




Dhillon stated, “While the CM was alleging irregularities in the SIR in the assembly, leaders from his own party were telling the Election Commission that everything was fine.” He challenged Mann to “identify even a single voter in the state whose name had been wrongly deleted from the electoral rolls”.




The Punjab BJP further stated, “If any irregularities had indeed occurred, it would be a serious matter for which the state govt itself would be responsible.”




He described Mann’s remarks as “evidence” of what he called “an incompetent govt”, alleging that “it had lost its ability to think clearly and make sound decisions”.