Opposition parties under the INDIA bloc on Wednesday announced a week-long nationwide “Save Democracy” campaign against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, seeking to put up a united front over their demands for greater transparency in the poll process.
Announcing the programme after a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders in Delhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Opposition parties would hold demonstrations at district headquarters from October 2 to 8. All Opposition MPs will march to the Election Commission on October 6, he said.
The bloc will subsequently seek a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu in the second week of October to raise its concerns over the functioning of institutions, Kharge said.
“All the parties spoke about fighting this battle unitedly,” Kharge said at a joint press conference after the meeting.
The Opposition is also planning to seek the early disposal of cases concerning SIR and alleged electoral irregularities pending before the Supreme Court. Kharge said the bloc would organise five major rallies in October and November to highlight what it calls “vote chori”.
The campaign comes amid a controversy over internal disagreements within the Election Commission regarding the SIR exercise. An investigation by The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders concerning the electoral-roll revision.
According to the report, the objections included concerns over changes to Form 6 for new voter registration, the centralisation of access to the electoral database and procedures for adding and deleting names from electoral rolls. The two commissioners also raised concerns over aspects of the poll panel’s voter-roll software.
The Election Commission has maintained that internal differences can arise during institutional decision-making, while the poll panel has defended its procedures.
At the press briefing, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Opposition leaders were collectively committed to what he described as protecting the Constitution and democracy.
“It is the personal commitment of all INDIA leaders that we are going to ensure that the people who have destroyed Indian democracy are punished,” Gandhi said, adding that democracy was “bigger than every single person in this country”.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee also called for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and said the Opposition would intensify its campaign if he did not step down.
The INDIA bloc’s campaign comes as the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition challenging aspects of the Election Commission’s functioning and the legality of the SIR process. The petition has cited the reported objections of Sandhu and Joshi to decisions concerning the electoral-roll exercise.
The Election Commission has also initiated a review of its voter-roll software following the controversy, according to Reuters.
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