NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Centre over Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh’s announcement that voter ID cards would be used instead of Aadhaar to identify beneficiaries of social welfare programmes under the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.Calling the move a “conspiracy”, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha alleged that linking welfare benefits to voter IDs could put people’s access to government schemes at risk.In a post on X, Rahul claimed that the announcement was part of a wider attempt to remove names from electoral rolls through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). He alleged that millions of names were being deleted under the exercise and that those most critical of the BJP were being targeted.“Modi government minister’s announcement – Benefits of schemes will now be determined not by Aadhaar, but by Voter ID. The conspiracy runs very deep—take your time to understand it. Under the guise of SIR, millions of names are being struck off voter lists—if not stopped, even more will be removed. Whose names are being targeted the most? Those who are furious with the BJP,” Rahul said.
Rahul Gandhi accuses Centre of linking welfare benefits to voter lists amid SIR row
He also accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of colluding with the BJP, alleging that electoral rolls were no longer being maintained by an impartial body. Rahul named Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of being a “Modi government employee” and claiming that his alleged collusion with the BJP in “vote theft” had been exposed with evidence.“The preparation is underway to craft such a list where the majority is always BJP’s—and now that very list will decide whether you get scheme benefits or not. Anyone who decided yesterday that the BJP must go—will have their names cherry-picked and struck off. Name struck—vote gone. Vote gone—rights gone. And just like that, you’ll become invisible citizens of a hijacked democracy—where the people don’t elect the government, the government selects its people,” he added.Rahul further warned that making voter ID mandatory for welfare benefits could eventually affect access to ration, pensions, MGNREGA wages, housing assistance, scholarships and reservations. He argued that voting rights should not be made a condition for receiving welfare benefits.“Today, Panchayati Raj schemes. Tomorrow, rations? Pensions? MGNREGA? Housing? Scholarships? Reservations? This isn’t politics to win elections—it’s an arrangement to steal elections and a permanent setup to cling to power.Voting is your right, not a condition. A poor person’s pension cannot be enslaved to their voter card. This isn’t just vote theft—it’s rights theft. We won’t let this happen,” he said.
Singh, also known as Lallan Singh, had announced that beneficiaries seeking financial assistance and welfare payments under schemes of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj would need to provide an Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number and undergo mandatory biometric authentication. The proposed system would use voter ID instead of Aadhaar for identifying beneficiaries.The announcement has raised questions about the scope of the move, as the Ministry of Panchayati Raj does not directly operate schemes involving payments to individual beneficiaries. Aadhaar is currently used for beneficiary identification and payments under several other central government programmes, including rural housing assistance, PM-KISAN and social security pensions.