Guwahati: Leaders of several INDIA bloc parties are scheduled to meet in New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss a joint action plan over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demands for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The meeting is also expected to consider a draft notice for a motion in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seeking Kumar’s removal, besides deliberating on a possible nationwide agitation over the issue.
The proposed meeting comes a day after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) adopted a resolution seeking Kumar’s removal and calling for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resignation.
AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal said on Tuesday that the Congress wanted to organise a large-scale agitation with the participation of opposition parties and that the INDIA bloc meeting would help finalise the future course of action.
Who is expected to attend
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party president Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K.C. Venugopal, along with TMC leaders Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, are among those expected to attend.
Leaders from the CPI, CPI(M), NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) are also expected to participate.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is unlikely to attend because of the Rajya Sabha election nominations in Uttar Pradesh and is expected to send representatives instead.
The DMK and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have said they will not participate in the meeting.
The DMK recently announced that it was no longer part of the INDIA bloc following differences with the Congress over Tamil Nadu politics. Venugopal, however, said the Congress would seek to engage with both the DMK and AAP on the issue.
DMK leader T.K.S. Elangovan said the party was no longer part of the opposition alliance but would continue to support other opposition parties on issues where their positions coincide.
Dispute over electoral roll revision
The political dispute intensified following a report by The Indian Express claiming that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had repeatedly differed with Kumar over decisions concerning voter-list revisions and the SIR process.
According to the report, the two Election Commissioners had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over a 10-month period regarding decisions and orders related to the SIR that they said had been issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
The report triggered further political reactions, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleging that Kumar had facilitated what he described as “vote chori”.
The CWC, in its resolution on Tuesday, said the developments had supported Gandhi’s earlier allegations and raised concerns over the functioning of the Election Commission. The party alleged that decision-making had become overly concentrated in the office of the Chief Election Commissioner.
The Election Commission’s position and the allegations raised by political parties remain part of the ongoing public and political debate over the SIR process.