Opposition Rallies Against Voter Roll Revision, Demands CEC Exit

Opposition parties under the INDIA bloc staged a major protest at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on Sunday against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, with leaders demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor defended the rally, saying it was a stand for constitutional principles rather than partisan gain. "The Election Commission must not snatch away the constitutional rights of the people of India," he told the media. He described the alleged removal of 130 million voters, or 13 crore people, from the list as entirely wrong and unacceptable.

Tharoor said the country needed a completely clean voter list and that the opposition was trying to protect the rights of every citizen.

Supporting the message, Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda described his party as peaceful and said the Constitution had been drafted by Congress. Protecting it, he said, was the party's duty.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav turned his fire on the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister over the claimed reduction of 1 crore 27 lakh votes. Yadav said the Chief Minister had admitted the figure only after losing an MLC election, and he asked why the issue had surfaced at that point.

He also ridiculed the BJP's 'double engine' slogan, claiming that its proponents had turned into 'double zero' and were unable to accept defeat even once.

Yadav alleged that the leaders had conspired with the Election Commission and sought a second round of vote counting. He also questioned the source of the data behind the claim that 1.27 crore votes did not belong to Hindus, asking who had provided it and how it had been obtained.

Uttar Pradesh Congress former chief Ajay Rai separately called for the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, stating that the CEC would have to step down.

The INDIA bloc held the demonstration to oppose the SIR process and to press its demand for the Chief Election Commissioner's resignation.