BJP plans door-to-door outreach to counter Opposition’s anti-SIR campaign

The BJP is preparing a fresh outreach drive in West Bengal to counter the Opposition’s protests over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and its demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. Following its ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy’ march, the party will now send leaders to meet influential people and representatives from different sections of society across Assembly constituencies.

Under the second phase of the campaign, BJP leaders plan to visit the homes of around 200 prominent people in every Assembly constituency. The interactions will focus on explaining what the party describes as attempts by Opposition parties to create disorder in the country and undermine democratic institutions. Leaders will also hold informal discussions with those they meet and seek their views on the state of the country.

The outreach will cover people who play an influential role in shaping public opinion, including workers, farmers, lawyers, teachers and doctors. The BJP plans to compile their responses into reports and send them to the party’s central leadership.

The campaign will be accompanied by a four-page booklet setting out the BJP’s arguments against the Opposition’s allegations. Party leaders and workers will use the publication to reach representatives from different sections of society and challenge what the BJP describes as a misleading narrative around the SIR exercise.

BJP’s counter to Opposition’s SIR allegations

The booklet argues that the SIR process was conducted during Congress-led governments on several occasions, claiming that 10 of the 12 such exercises took place under Congress rule. It also questions why the Congress is opposing the current revision, given that deaths, migration and alleged illegal infiltration over the past two decades may have resulted in names remaining on electoral rolls when they should no longer be there.

The BJP’s publication asks whether the Congress is relying on inaccuracies in voter lists to secure electoral victories. It also uses statistical data to explain the reasons behind the deletion of around 13 crore names during the SIR exercise and seeks to distinguish what it calls misinformation from the actual facts about the process.

The party is particularly keen to counter the Opposition’s ‘vote chori’ allegations. Its booklet argues that election results are determined by voters, not by the SIR process.

A senior West Bengal BJP leader said the campaign was not limited to party supporters and called on all citizens who consider themselves pro-India to participate.

“This is not just a BJP programme. It is for everyone who stands with India. We appeal to every pro-India citizen to join us in exposing those who are involved in anti-India conspiracies,” the leader said.

Political battle intensifies ahead of 2027 polls

The BJP’s latest initiative comes amid continuing protests by the Congress, Left parties, far-Left groups and the Cockroach Janata Party over the SIR exercise and their demand for Kumar’s resignation. The Opposition has been seeking to build a nationwide campaign against the BJP, with the electoral-roll revision emerging as a major point of confrontation.

With Assembly elections expected in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttarakhand in early 2027, political observers believe the Opposition may seek to intensify its protests in the coming months to put pressure on the BJP.

The BJP, meanwhile, is attempting to turn the campaign around by challenging the Opposition’s claims and presenting its own account of the SIR exercise directly to the public.

The ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy’ campaign is part of a wider mobilisation drive launched by the party. Its second phase, scheduled from November 11 to November 30, is intended to extend the BJP’s outreach through constituency-level interactions and public engagement. In West Bengal, the party had earlier announced plans to take the campaign to hundreds of locations across the state.

With the latest door-to-door initiative, the BJP hopes to widen its engagement beyond party workers and supporters, while taking its arguments on the SIR and the Opposition’s protests to influential sections of society.