Hours after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) raised question marks on the functioning of Election Commission (EC), BJP fielded national general secretary Smriti Irani to ask whether the grand old party was giving a clean chit to the poll body in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and other states with non-BJP governments.Irani asked if the Congress wanted deceased and duplicate voters in the electoral rolls.Citing the Congress origins and its founding president AO Hume’s links to the British empire, the former education minister said a party established to perpetrate the British rule was today hell bent on undermining India’s democratic and constitutional bodies.“EC is the soul of Indian democracy respected all over the world and the Congress leadership is leaving no stone unturned to malign it,” Irani said in first fierce attack on the Congress since the row over Election Commission’s SIR process erupted.Irani was taking to reporters at the BJP headquarters here, and asked whether Congress leaders had raised similar questions over EC’s functioning in states where BJP was not in power.“Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, where there are no BJP governments, is the Congress leadership giving EC a clean chit in these states, or is it raising questions over EC’s activities there too?” she asked.Her remarks came after CWC discussed the controversy surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demanded action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Congress has alleged large-scale irregularities in the electoral rolls and has sought restoration of names it says were wrongly removed.Nearly 13 crore names have been deleted during the SIR exercise now in its third and final phase. EC has said all three phases were unanimously approved by the full commission and the Supreme Court has upheld the SIR exercise.Irani also questioned the Congress over its demand concerning names removed from electoral rolls, asking why the party would want duplicate or deceased voters to remain on the rolls. She referred to EC’s stated process of verification, under which Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would visit the homes of people issued notices and collect supporting documents.The BJP leader also attacked the Congress leadership over its criticism of constitutional institutions and invoked the history of the party’s formation, referring to AO Hume and the Lahore Congress session.The Congress, meanwhile, has maintained that the electoral-roll revision raises serious questions about transparency and electoral integrity. The party has demanded, among other measures, disclosure of changes made to electoral rolls and action against the CEC.