Lucknow/New Delhi:
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday challenged Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav to debate the row over electoral rolls in a special session of Parliament. His remarks came a day before the Congress is set to stage a “public impeachment” of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls.
“‘I challenge you both right here and now: the Bharatiya Janata Party is fully prepared to discuss this in Parliament. We have nothing to hide. Let us convene a special session of Parliament,” Shah said at the Uttar Pradesh BJP state executive committee meeting in Lucknow.
“But they have no intention of speaking there. They refuse to let Parliament function; instead, they just create a ruckus,” he added, speaking of the Opposition at large.
The Congress had planned to hold a “mock parliament” originally, which it later re-termed “public impeachment”. For an actual impeachment, it has given notices that have been rejected, and it does not have the numbers for it anyway. As for the mock version, the party called the event off about two hours before it was to begin on Friday because of rain in Delhi. The sitting will now be held on Saturday, a day before the INDIA bloc’s rally at Ramlila Ground against the CEC and the SIR, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expected to move the “impeachment motion”.
Shah, meanwhile, said, “[Rahul Gandhi] will never discuss the issue in Parliament but will create a nuisance on the street.”
#WATCH | Lucknow | Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, “…’Rahul Baba,’ I challenge both you and Akhilesh Yadav right here and now: the Bharatiya Janata Party is fully prepared to discuss this (CEC-SIR row) in Parliament. We have nothing to hide. Let us convene a special session of Parliament—but they have no intention of speaking there. They refuse to let Parliament function; instead, they just create a ruckus” In Haryana, the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government after securing the highest number of seats. In Maharashtra, the NDA formed the government with the largest share of seats. In Bihar, for the first time, a Chief Minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party took office. In Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government after three decades. In Puducherry, the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government once again. In Assam, we achieved a hat-trick by winning 100 seats, and in Bengal, we completely wiped out Mamata Didi. After the events in Bengal, they have realised that they simply cannot win elections. Naturally, when a team loses a match or a game, they should sit down and practice more—that is what is expected, isn’t it? But ‘Rahul Baba’ is cut from a different cloth. The same goes for Akhilesh and others in the ‘INDIA’ alliance who are with him. Instead of accepting defeat, they began accusing the umpire of cheating, claiming that votes were stolen. ‘Rahul Baba,’ I challenge both you and Akhilesh Yadav right here and now: the Bharatiya Janata Party is fully prepared to discuss this in Parliament. We have nothing to hide. Let us convene a special session of Parliament—but they have no intention of speaking there. They refuse to let Parliament function; instead, they just create a ruckus”
— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2026
Listing the BJP’s wins in Haryana, Maharashtra, Bihar, Delhi, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal, Shah further said, “After the events in Bengal, they have realised that they simply cannot win elections.” He added, “Instead of accepting defeat, they began accusing the umpire of cheating, claiming that votes were stolen.”
Rahul Gandhi has accused the Election Commission of undermining democracy and the government of trying to block protesters from reaching Delhi.
The INDIA bloc has held protests since early October demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, suspension of the SIR and restoration of pre-SIR electoral rolls. The exercise has deleted about 13 crore names from the rolls, which is about 14 per cent of the pre-SIR numbers.
The SIR has stalled Parliament before. In the 2025 Monsoon session, Parliament transacted little business apart from the debates on Operation Sindoor, with repeated adjournments mostly over the SIR in Bihar. In the winter session, the government cited the Election Commission’s status as an independent constitutional body and agreed to a debate on electoral reforms rather than on the SIR.
During that debate on December 10, 2025, Rahul Gandhi challenged Shah to debate his three “vote chori” press conferences. Shah replied that he would decide the order of his own speech, and Opposition MPs later walked out. In April, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan rejected Opposition notices to move a motion for Gyanesh Kumar’s removal.
Amit Shah’s challenge now came a day after the results of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections to 11 graduates’ and teachers’ seats. The BJP won six and the SP five, meaning the BJP stayed at the number it held before while the SP retained three and added two.
Akhilesh Yadav called the outcome a “double defeat” for the BJP and said it had laid the groundwork for the SP’s win in the 2027 Assembly elections, due in about five months.
In Lucknow, Amit Shah said the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh stood firm like “Angad’s foot”, referring to a Ramayana tale, and said it would return for a third consecutive term with an overwhelming majority.
(with PTI, ANI inputs)
