PM Modi's Praise For Election Commission, SIR Amid Opposition Fire

At a time when the Election Commission has come under fire from the opposition over allegations of vote theft and the timing of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised the poll body for the way it conducted the Assembly elections in Bihar.

In an address at the BJP headquarters after the NDA's mammoth victory in Bihar on Friday, PM Modi said theft of ballot boxes and repolling on a large scale used to be a feature of all elections in the state before 2005.

Referring to the RJD's rule in Bihar, the PM said, "But as soon as 'jungle raj' ended in Bihar, things started to get better. In this election, there was no need to conduct a repoll anywhere during the two-phase election. The voting was peaceful and I congratulate the Election Commission, all election workers, security forces and voters for this. The country is proud of all of you."

This year's Bihar elections, the PM said, proved that every voter in the country, and especially young voters, take the 'shuddhikaran' (purification or cleaning up) of voter lists very seriously. Updates here

"The youth of Bihar also supported SIR in a big way... Every party now has a responsibility to be part of the SIR with enthusiasm so that it can be conducted everywhere else as well. Bihar has defeated the forces that attack democracy. It has shown once again that lies lose and public confidence wins," he said.

Attacking the RJD and the Congress, he continued, "Bihar has said clearly that those who are out on bail will not get support from the people... There is no space for the politics of appeasement in Bihar."

Taking aim at Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi without naming him, the PM said the Congress rakes up issues like 'vote chori' and attacks every institution, but does not have a positive vision for the country.