VARANASI, Nov. 2 -- The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is aimed at refining voter lists, not "stealing 13 crore votes," BJP spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra said on Monday, dismissing allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI) by Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.

Addressing a press conference at the Circuit House in Varanasi on Monday, Patra said the removal of names was part of the process of verifying and updating electoral rolls and did not amount to vote theft.

Explaining the exercise, the Puri MP said it involved identifying voters who were absent, had permanently shifted, were deceased or had duplicate registrations. He said SIR was not a new exercis...