Several MPs of the INDIA bloc parties, including Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, staged a protest in the Parliament House complex on Tuesday against the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) voter roll revision in Bihar, and demanded its rollback.
The Opposition’s march to the ECI headquarters against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, meanwhile, has been rescheduled to August 11, a source said on Tuesday. The march, earlier scheduled to be held on August 8, was rescheduled after the death of former Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren.
The schedule of the dinner meeting of the INDIA bloc leaders remains the same, and will be held on the evening of August 7 at Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s new residence - 5, Sunehri Bagh road.
Several Opposition leaders were in Ranchi on Tuesday to pay their last respects to Soren. Following his death, a protest that the Congress was to hold in Bengaluru on Tuesday was postponed to August 8. That protest is to be led by Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress is protesting against what it calls large-scale manipulation of electoral rolls in Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura constituency in the 2023 Assembly polls.
At a meeting of the INDIA bloc parties on Tuesday morning, Opposition leaders agreed that SIR remains the key issue for the Monsoon Session, and they will continue protests inside, as well as outside, the House, pressing for a debate on the issue.
Opposition parties have warned that the exercise may lead to disenfranchisement of many, and have called it “vote-bandi” and “vote-chori” (vote theft).
As regards protest on Tuesday , with banners and posters against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, as well as other opposition MPs raised slogans and demanded a rollback of the SIR as they stage their protest near Parliament’s Makar Dwar. This was the tenth day of their protest with only one day gap in between on Monday when the opposition skipped their protest in view of the demise of former Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren. There were two huge banners in front of the protesting MPs —one in Hindi and the other in English —which read ‘Our Vote. Our Right. Our Fight.’
Another banner carried by the protesting MPs read ‘SIR — Silent Invisible Rigging’.
With ‘Stop SIR’ placards along with posters, alleging collusion between the EC and the Government, in hand, the MPs of the opposition, including those of the Congress, DMK, TMC, and Left parties, among others, participated in the protest and raised slogans.
The opposition has been protesting in both Houses of Parliament against the SIR, alleging the ECI’s exercise was aimed at “disenfranchising voters” in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections.
They have been demanding a discussion on the issue in both Houses. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra dared the Government to debate the ECI’s voter roll revision in Bihar and claimed that the fact that the House is not being able to run smoothly is a manifestation of the ruling side’s weakness.
She said there should be a debate on the SIR since the exercise is being done throughout the country and is an issue that affects the whole country.