The debate on electoral reforms in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday quickly morphed into a BJP versus Congress showdown, with speakers from both sides trading sharp barbs over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls by the Election Commission.

After Congress leader Manish Tewari opened the discussion by accusing the Election Commission of bias, unfairness, and misuse of the SIR process, BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal hit back, alleging that it was the Congress that had a historic record of “stealing votes.”

Jaiswal, BJP MP from Paschim Champaran in Bihar — where the first SIR was recently conducted and the BJP-led NDA swept the elections — claimed the “biggest vote theft” occurred in 1946, when a majority of Provincial Congress Committees voted for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to become C

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