VARANASI, Nov. 3 -- 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 exercise and had been conducted 12 times in the country, including 10 times under Congress governments and twice under the BJP. Patra said around three crore voters were identified as absent, six crore applications were received through Form-6 for registration and notices were issued to six crore voters who had shifted. He accused the Congress of clubbing these figures to claim that 13 crore votes had been stolen. Targeting Rahul Gandhi over his allegations against chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, Patra said the BJP had won the 2014, 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections before Kumar took charge on February 19, 2025....