AAP to skip INDIA bloc protest outside EC office on Oct 6

The AAP on Monday said it will not participate in the INDIA bloc's October 6 protest outside the Election Commission headquarters over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying it will continue to pursue the issue separately.

AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said protests against alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise were being held at different places and described the issue as a people's movement.

"The CJP's protest is also being held, and different organisations are also holding protests. The Left is also protesting in different places. As far as tomorrow's protest is concerned, it is the INDIA bloc's protest. So, the Aam Aadmi Party is not part of it. We are fighting this battle in our own way," Singh said at the Parliament House complex.

He said the AAP was not even using its party banner for its protests as it considered the SIR issue one concerning people across the country.

The INDIA bloc had announced its October 6 march to the Election Commission after a meeting of opposition parties on September 30. The leaders said opposition MPs would march to the poll panel and later meet the President to raise concerns over alleged irregularities in voter-list revision.

The AAP and DMK did not attend the September 30 meeting.

The meeting was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, besides TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Left leaders.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is also the JMM chief, joined the meeting virtually.

The proposed protest comes amid a controversy over the functioning of the Election Commission and opposition allegations concerning its handling of the SIR exercise.

A recent report by The Indian Express alleged that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over 10 months to SIR-related decisions and orders that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation. The report also said they had termed specific changes to voter enrolment forms "unauthorised" and "illegal".

The Election Commission has rejected suggestions of a split within the three-member panel and maintained that decisions relating to the SIR were taken unanimously.