Bhubaneswar, Oct 11 — The Congress-led INDIA bloc leaders in Odisha on Sunday staged a protest at Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar, condemning alleged police excesses during an opposition demonstration in Delhi on October 10, demanding the dismissal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Senior Congress leader Santosh Singh Saluja, who participated in the protest, alleged that police personnel misbehaved with women protesters in Delhi, calling the incident unacceptable in a democracy.
Questioning the Election Commission’s handling of the SIR exercise and Form 6 applications, Saluja claimed that around 13 crore voters had been deleted from electoral rolls across the country in six months. He stressed the need to protect electoral transparency and citizens’ voting rights.
The joint INDIA bloc rally started from Master Canteen Square and proceeded to Lower PMG, where participants staged a demonstration and held a protest meeting.
Addressing the gathering, the speakers alleged that the Union Home Ministry had created a war-like situation and virtually turned Delhi into a military camp to suppress the October 10 protest. They claimed that police had cordoned off political party offices, erected barricades on roads and arrested people arriving in the capital by train, Metro and air.
They also alleged that police resorted to lathi charges and tear gas at several places, with more than 7,000 people, including students, members of mass organisations and political leaders, arrested and detained. The speakers further alleged that the SIR exercise had been misused in Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal following Kumar’s appointment as CEC.
The INDIA bloc leaders demanded Kumar’s dismissal, restoration of names deleted from electoral rolls during the SIR, and reinstatement of the earlier selection mechanism for Election Commissioners, comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India.
They also sought the reintroduction of ballot papers in place of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The leaders said the nationwide agitation would continue until all four demands were met. They also announced a massive rally in Delhi on October 12.