By Srijita Chakraborty
Political parties, student organisations and civil society groups took to the streets across India on Friday, September 25. They demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar be held responsible for alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of rolls. The protests showed how deeply people care about the fairness of the election process. Many citizens are not ready to accept any question about the integrity of the elections.
Political parties, student organisations and civil society groups went out on the streets over India on Friday, September. In Delhi the police arrested people who were protesting near Jantar Mantar. I saw what happened as Delhi police took into custody Dipankar Bhattacharya, the secretary of CPI(ML) Liberation, Neha Bora, the president of AISA Yogendra Yadav, a psephologist and Anjali Bhardwaj, a transparency activist. These arrests took place close to a monument. The way the police reacted brought attention to the conflict between people who are protesting and the police who are enforcing the law.
CPM leaders and activists also staged a demonstration near the Election Commission headquarters. Were detained. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra briefly joined the protest.
Congress workers attempting to march towards the Election Commission were detained in Delhi while protests in Patna and Imphal were met with water cannons and tear smoke. In Shimla Congress workers clashed with police during an attempt to burn an effigy of Kumar.
In Srinagar Congress MLAs protested inside the Assembly while in Guwahati, senior Congress leaders, including state chief Gaurav Gogoi were detained before being released on the day.
The protests followed reports of objections by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi over aspects of the poll panel’s functioning during the SIR process. Protesters have alleged that some decisions relating to the revision were taken without the involvement or recommendations of the other commissioners.
The Opposition has also questioned the Election Commission’s procedures for verifying voters and raised concerns about the deletion of names from electoral rolls. The Election Commission has been at the centre of growing political scrutiny over the implementation of the SIR.
Congress has announced plans to move fresh notices in Parliament seeking Kumar’s removal and has called for further demonstrations outside collectorates. The Congress Working Committee is also expected to discuss its next course of action. Civil society and trade union groups have separately called for the CEC’s removal and a halt to the SIR.