In a fiery address from the national capital on February 20, Congress MP Udit Raj questioned the Election Commission’s reluctance to digitize and share voter information, despite India’s advanced digital identity framework.
‘With Aadhaar covering 1.4 billion people, providing digital voter lists should be child’s play for the ECI,’ Raj asserted. He reiterated Rahul Gandhi’s call for accessible electronic voter rolls, lamenting the lack of action. Duplicates plague voter lists, he claimed, due to the commission’s inaction on tech solutions.
‘Is there a funding crunch, or is this intentional foot-dragging?’ Raj wondered aloud. His critique extended to broader governance failures in leveraging technology for democratic processes.
On societal tensions, Raj advocated prioritizing the eradication of caste prejudice over fears of Muslim population growth or forced conversions. He clarified that resistance to UGC norms stems from upper-caste interests, not minority communities. Historically, he noted, Islam expanded peacefully, not by conquest.
The political discourse alarms Raj, who cited Minister Kiren Rijiju’s aggressive stance against Rahul Gandhi as emblematic of hate-mongering. Such statements, he argued, echo the divisive campaigns against Gandhi by right-wing groups in the 1940s.
Recent threats to Congress leadership, linked to Karni Sena, reinforce this dangerous precedent. Raj’s comments signal escalating partisan battles ahead of polls, demanding urgent reforms in electoral data management and rhetoric moderation to safeguard India’s pluralistic fabric.