New Delhi: Led by Trinamool Congress (TMC), the INDIA bloc is preparing to stage a massive protest against the Election Commission of India (ECI) next week over its contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, sources said. Reportedly, the protest will be held in the middle of next week.
TMC, one of the largest Opposition parties in Parliament and the ruling party in West Bengal, raised the issue and accused the incumbent regime of manipulating the voter list by SIR. Sources from the Opposition quarters also confirmed that the decision was formalised during a meeting of the INDIA bloc’s parliamentary leaders, held on Thursday morning in the presence of Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Trinamool’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, proposed the action based on West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s earlier call to intensify agitation against the alleged discrepancies in SIR.
The proposal was unanimously accepted by the constituent parties of the bloc, sources underlined. Members of Parliament from across the alliance will take part in the protest, while simultaneous demonstrations within and outside Parliament will continue, demanding the withdrawal of SIR.
Mamata Banerjee had earlier announced, from the dais of the July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally, that her party would surround the ECI’s offices in Bengal in protest against what she termed the illegal inclusion of legitimate voters’ names in the new SIR.
Meanwhile, the Parliament remained disrupted for yet another day over the SIR issue on Thursday. Opposition parties escalated their demand for a detailed discussion, prompting repeated adjournments in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. TMC’s Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, submitted an adjournment motion seeking a debate on SIR to be taken up on priority over all other business. After the motion was rejected, the INDIA bloc MPs staged a demonstration near the Makar Dwar of Parliament, reiterating their demand for SIR’s immediate rollback.