Chandigarh: A political controversy has erupted in Punjab after a video purportedly showing BJP state secretary and Dinanagar Assembly in-charge Renu Kashyap making remarks about the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls surfaced on social media.
In the viral video, Kashyap is allegedly heard asking party workers to “get the SIR done” and “remove 20,000-25,000 votes” to ensure the election of their MLA. Following the video’s circulation, the local SDM ordered a probe into the matter.
The video is reportedly from a BJP workers’ meeting held in Dinanagar on July 2 and was allegedly recorded by a party worker before being circulated on WhatsApp by Congress supporters.
Dinanagar Congress MLA Aruna Chaudhary has submitted a complaint to Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Anindita Mitra, alleging that the remarks raise serious concerns about the fairness of the voter list revision process.
In her complaint, Chaudhary said that if the video is found to be authentic, it could amount to interference in the statutory process of preparing electoral rolls. She urged election authorities to ensure that all officials engaged in the SIR exercise work independently without political pressure and that no genuine voter is removed from the electoral rolls without following due legal procedure.
The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls began across Punjab on June 25, with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) conducting door-to-door verification and distributing enumeration forms.
Responding to the controversy, Renu Kashyap rejected the allegations and claimed the video had been edited and presented out of context. She said the meeting was an internal party interaction aimed at creating awareness about the voter registration process.
Kashyap maintained that her remarks referred only to the removal of duplicate or illegally registered votes and not genuine voters.
She also denied ever stating that 20,000-25,000 votes should be deleted and alleged that the clip may have been manipulated using modern editing tools or artificial intelligence. She added that she would seek an investigation into the authenticity of the video.
