BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra on Monday hit back at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his claims on Form 6 and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, accusing him of misleading the public about the Supreme Court’s observations.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on October 5, Patra said the Supreme Court had neither declared Form 6 illegal nor rejected it. He said Chief Justice Surya Kant had only observed that the court had not approved any changed Form 6 and that the record must be examined to establish who made the modification.

Patra cited the Election Commission’s September 26 press release, which said the declaration attached to Form 6 for the SIR exercise had been upheld by the Supreme Court. He said Gandhi was wrong to claim it had been established that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar illegally altered the form.

Patra said Gandhi had misled the public on two counts: the status of Form 6 and whether the EC’s SIR decision in Bihar was unanimous. He warned there would be consequences for what he called false claims.