Protests demanding an end to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar intensified across the country as Left parties and democratic forces stepped up mobilisation against the attack on voting rights. The protests are part of a joint call by Left parties from September 26 to October 2, culminating in a mass upsurge across the country on Gandhi Jayanti against vote theft in the name of SIR.
In Delhi, a citizens’ protest was held at Jantar Mantar on September 25 demanding the arrest of Gyanesh Kumar over vote chori, with protesters raising the slogan, “Vote Chori is Deshdroh”. Hundreds of protesters participated in the demonstration, including CPI(ML) General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya, Yogendra Yadav, advocate Prashant Bhushan, AISA President Neha, Anjali Bharadwaj, CPI(ML) Central Committee member Purushottam Sharma, AICCTU General Secretary Rajiv Dimri, CPI(ML) Politburo member Ravi Rai and other activists.
The Delhi Police detained protesters at the barricades during the demonstration. The protesters demanded that the SIR process be halted, the voting rights of all those wrongfully excluded from electoral rolls be restored, and the independent and democratic functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI) be restored. Comrade Dipankar and other activists were released from different police stations across Delhi late in the evening.
As part of the joint Left call, protests were also held in Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand on September 26. The protests raised opposition to the exclusion of voters through the SIR process and demanded the protection of the democratic and constitutional right to vote.
The protests come amid growing questions over the functioning of the ECI. The Indian Express reported that two of the three Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions taken without their knowledge, including matters relating to changes in Form 6 for new voters, deletion and restoration of voters during the SIR process and the centralisation and custody of the voter database.
The protests continued in Delhi on September 29, when the Join Left Parties organised a demonstration in front of the ECI headquarters at Nirvachan Sadan. The protest was met with police repression. CPI(M) General Secretary M.A. Baby, CPI(ML) Liberation Central Committee members Rajiv Dimri, Sucheta De and Shweta Raj, along with activists of the CPI(ML), CPI, CPI(M), AICCTU and AILAJ, were detained by the Delhi Police.
The mobilisation is set to intensify on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, with mass protests planned across the country against vote theft in the name of SIR. The protests are demanding the removal and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and opposing the conversion of the Election Commission into a puppet institution serving nefarious and anti-people interests.
In Delhi, a united delegation of democratic activists including AISA President Neha, Yogendra Yadav, advocate Prashant Bhushan, Nikhil Dey and Nandita Narain visited Parliament Street Police Station on September 28 and submitted an intimation for a protest at Jantar Mantar on Gandhi Jayanti in defence of India’s democratic integrity.
The delegation said that the intimation had been submitted following due procedure and called upon the Delhi Police to respect the right to protest and the people’s democratic rights. The organisers stressed that the struggle was not only against vote theft but also against attempts to restrict spaces for democratic protest and curb people’s aspirations for change and justice.
The Gandhi Jayanti mobilisation has called upon democratic forces and concerned citizens to join the protest at Jantar Mantar and strengthen the struggle to defend democracy, voting rights and the democratic integrity of the country.
