Bengaluru, November 5 — INDIA bloc leaders rallied at Freedom Park on Thursday against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. They called for the exercise to be scrapped and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, arguing that eligible voters could lose their place on the rolls.
Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, former chief minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress president B K Hariprasad led the demonstration. Representatives of the CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, Forward Bloc and Samajwadi Party joined the rally, alongside members of student and civil society organisations.
Shivakumar criticised the way the revision was being carried out and pledged to continue the campaign on behalf of eligible voters whose names had been removed. Alliance leaders alleged that the process lacked transparency and adequate safeguards. The Election Commission has maintained that the revision is intended to improve the accuracy of voter lists.
The Freedom Park rally followed a November 1 demonstration at New Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, where the alliance raised similar demands. Hariprasad said Congress units were also organising protests at district headquarters on Thursday and would take the campaign to taluks and blocks from Friday. He said the agitation would continue until Kumar stepped down.