Delhi CM Rekha Gupta has questioned the Congress and the AAP over their opposition to SIR after losing Delhi.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Wednesday hit out at Congress and Rahul Gandhi over the opposition’s protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, questioning why the exercise was being challenged now when it had been conducted under previous governments.
“Special Intensive Revision has been carried out several times, and the Election Commission has always conducted it, regardless of which party was in power at the state or central level. Why were there no objections then? Why are such objections being raised now?” Gupta said at a press conference.
Citing Delhi, she said the last SIR in the capital was conducted in 2002, when the Congress was also in power at the Centre.
Delhi: On the opposition’s protests over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), CM Rekha Gupta says, “…Special Intensive Revision has been carried out several times, and the Election Commission has always conducted it, regardless of which party was in power at the state or central level. Why were there no objections then? Why are such objections being raised now? Let me give an example from Delhi. The last SIR in Delhi was conducted in 2002, when the Congress was also in power at the Centre. But did the Congress win even a single seat in Delhi after 2015? Was SIR not conducted? Where did its seats go? The people have completely rejected the Congress, and that is what is troubling these political parties. I also want to ask the Aam Aadmi Party: when elections were held here after SIR and you formed the government, everything was fine. Now, when the people of Delhi have rejected you, you have suddenly remembered protests and demonstrations. You come to trouble Delhi as ‘protest kings.’ Why are you not focusing on Punjab? There was another murder there yesterday. Drug rackets are operating on a large scale, and ordinary people cannot raise their voices. If someone speaks out, they are murdered or forced to die by suicide. You are not paying attention to the state where your government is in power…”
— IANS (@ians_india) October 14, 2026
“But did the Congress win even a single seat in Delhi after 2015? Was SIR not conducted? Where did its seats go?” she asked, attributing the party’s electoral setbacks to voters rejecting it.
“The people have completely rejected the Congress, and that is what is troubling these political parties,” she said.
Gupta accused opposition parties of raising objections after losing elections, arguing that the Congress’s electoral defeats in Delhi could not be blamed on SIR.
She also accused Rahul Gandhi of seeking attention through confrontations and said opposition leaders were more concerned about remaining in power than addressing public issues.
The remarks come amid an intensifying confrontation between the BJP and opposition parties over the Election Commission’s revision of electoral rolls. Congress and other opposition parties have alleged irregularities in the process and questioned the poll body’s handling of voter deletions. The Election Commission has defended SIR as an exercise to maintain accurate electoral rolls.
‘Anarchic Parties, Anarchic Leaders’
Gupta also targeted Rahul Gandhi over his violent confrontations with protesters and supporters. “These are anarchic parties and anarchic leaders. Sometimes he (Rahul Gandhi) assaults a reporter who is pregnant, sometimes he attacks the police, and sometimes he beats up their own party workers,” she said.
“They are concerned only with themselves. They want all the attention, want only their voices to be heard and want to remain in power,” she added.
Gupta also targeted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying it had accepted the SIR process when it won elections and formed the government in Delhi but was now protesting after being voted out of power.
“You come to trouble Delhi as ‘protest kings’,” she said.
‘Why not focus on Punjab?’
Gupta then turned her attack towards AAP’s government in Punjab, questioning why the party was protesting in Delhi instead of addressing law-and-order concerns in the state.
“Why are you not focusing on Punjab? There was another murder there yesterday. Drug rackets are operating on a large scale, and ordinary people cannot raise their voices,” she said.
Her remarks came after anti-drug activist Parwinder Singh Jhota was shot dead in Mansa on Tuesday during a confrontation with a medical store owner over the alleged sale of intoxicating substances.