Opposition Members of Parliament, including Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi, staged a protest under the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament House complex on Friday. The protest was against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in Bihar, which the opposition claims is an attempt to disenfranchise specific voter groups ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.
Opposition leaders demanded that the Election Commission of India provide access to the data used for voter list revision.
The opposition said the SIR should be rolled back, alleging that it’s aimed at suppressing the votes of certain groups.
Several MPs from the INDIA bloc, including members from the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, participated in the protest.
The protesters also raised slogans like “Save democracy” and “Stop vote-bandi” outside the Makar Dwar of Parliament.
A large banner saying “SIR – Loktantra par Vaar” was displayed during the protest.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has meanwhile defended the SIR, dismissing allegations of voter suppression.
According to the Election Commission, 56 lakh names have been marked for deletion from Bihar’s voter rolls, including 20 lakh dead voters, 28 lakh voters who have permanently moved to another state, 7 lakh individuals registered in more than one location, and one lakh uncontactable voters.
The opposition has been protesting in both houses of Parliament, demanding a discussion on the issue. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday, warned the Election Commission that the opposition wouldn’t let them get away with the SIR, accusing them of “cheating” during the voter list revision process in a Karnataka constituency.