The BJP on Wednesday accused the Congress of exposing its "hypocrisy" after Karnataka chief minister D K Shivakumar said only those registered as voters in the state through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) would benefit from government welfare schemes.
BJP IT department head Amit Malviya questioned why the Congress was willing to rely on the SIR exercise to determine welfare eligibility while simultaneously attacking it as unconstitutional, saying the party "cannot have it both ways". He alleged that the Congress's opposition to the intensive revision of electoral rolls was driven by politics rather than principle.
Malviya's remarks came a day after Shivakumar urged voters in Karnataka to actively participate in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, saying some states had already stopped extending benefits to people who were not eligible to be on the electoral rolls.
"If a person is no longer a voter here, why should we continue giving guarantee benefits?... We intend that the benefits should go only to the people of our state," Shivakumar had said. "The right to vote is the right to live," he added.
In a post on X, Malviya said the Congress "cannot have it both ways", alleging that while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had described the SIR as a "citizenship test" and attacked it as unconstitutional, the Karnataka government was relying on the same process to decide who would receive government schemes, guarantees, pensions and other welfare benefits.
"The Congress's hypocrisy stands exposed. When the Election Commission conducts the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to ensure only eligible citizens are on the electoral roll, Rahul Gandhi calls it a 'citizenship test' and attacks it as unconstitutional.
"But in Karnataka, CM D K Shivakumar says the very same SIR electoral roll will determine who gets government schemes, guarantees, pensions and welfare benefits," he said.
Malviya said the contrasting positions of Gandhi and Shivakumar showed that the Congress's objection to the SIR was political rather than principled.
"So which Congress should India believe? If SIR is illegitimate, why use it as the gateway to welfare? If it is reliable enough to decide who receives taxpayer-funded benefits, why oppose it when the Election Commission uses it to protect the integrity of the electoral roll?
"Their objection was never about the process. It was about politics," he added.