Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami defends SIR, addresses ‘purification’ ritual: ‘Was not against any caste’

Addressing the media, Dhami said questions could be raised about the Election Commission, but insisted that they should be based on records and facts.

“Everyone has the right to raise questions. But questions and allegations should be accompanied by facts. They should be based on the entire institutional record and should be based on truth,” he said.

He also addressed the “purification” row, rejecting the Congress’s claim that the ritual in Haldwani in August was directed against party president Mallikarjun Kharge or Dalits.

“The havan that was performed as purification was not against any person, nor was it against any caste,” he said.

On the SIR issue, Dhami referred to The Indian Express report that said the two Election Commissioners had recorded at least 14 objections on administrative and procedural matters related to the process. He said the Election Commission’s official position was that the final orders relating to SIR had been taken unanimously.

“The conclusion should be drawn only after looking at both these facts together,” he said.

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He also cited the Election Commission’s press conference on Saturday, saying that the original SIR order issued on June 24, 2025, as well as subsequent schedules for states and Union Territories, had received the unanimous approval of the commission.

“Presenting any internal comment or objection directly as a difference of opinion in the final decision of the Commission would not be appropriate,” Dhami said.

He said the purpose of SIR was not to deprive eligible voters of their rights but to “clean and update” electoral rolls. He also pointed to measures announced by the Election Commission for voters whose records are unmapped or contain logical discrepancies.

‘Congress attempting to manufacture narrative

He accused the Congress of habitually fabricating a “narrative” to create confusion, only to be “exposed soon after”.

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Dhami said the Congress has once again attempted to manufacture a “narrative” against the Election Commission to mislead the people.

On the alleged purification ritual held at Haldwani’s Ramlila Maidan on August 11, Dhami said, “Tell me: before or after the havan, was there any press release, video, statement by anyone, or anything published in a newspaper saying that this ritual was being performed against a person or against a caste? If you have any evidence, bring it to us and we will take action.”

He said Uttarakhand had a tradition of people from different castes and communities participating together in religious and cultural events.

The Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee, meanwhile, has continued to attack the state government over both the SIR process and the Haldwani incident.

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On September 25, the party held a protest march to the Election Office at the Secretariat and submitted a memorandum addressed to the President, demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the two Election Commissioners.

The Congress alleged that the SIR process had raised “serious irregularities and procedural discrepancies” and said objections had been filed against large numbers of voters. It specifically sought the publication of Assembly-wise and booth-wise details of all Form-7 applications and demanded an investigation into people who had filed “unusually large numbers” of such applications.

The party also demanded that no voter’s name be deleted merely on the basis of a Form-7 application until physical verification and an opportunity for the voter to be heard had been provided.

Meanwhile, the Haldwani controversy has now moved beyond Uttarakhand. The Congress on Sunday said it would hold a “Dalit-Adivasi Self-Respect Meeting” on September 29 in New Delhi to discuss the purification ritual and what it described as continuing violations of laws protecting Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

‘Insult to entire SC/ST community’

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Congress MP Mallu Ravi said the meeting would be held by the Congress SC/ST MPs’ Forum in collaboration with the AICC departments dealing with Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.“This was not merely an insult to Kharge ji, but an insult to the entire SC/ST community,” he alleged.

He accused the BJP of supporting the incident and said the party’s state president had openly backed those who conducted the ritual.

Congress leaders also accused the Modi government of being “anti-Dalit” and “anti-tribal”. The September 29 meeting, they said, would bring together Congress MPs, former MPs, ministers from Congress-ruled states, MLAs and AICC representatives to discuss discrimination and violence against SC and ST communities.