SIR protest turns chaotic; activists, students detained
New Delhi: A protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar turned tense at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Friday, with police stopping protesters and detaining several activists, lawyers and students.
The ‘Citizen March’ brought together ordinary citizens, student groups and social activists concerned over alleged deletion of names from electoral rolls. Protesters raised slogans against the SIR exercise and demanded accountability from the Election Commission.
Among those present were social activist Yogendra Yadav, Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Delhi University professor Nandita Narain and AISA national president Neha Bora.
The situation escalated when protesters attempted to move towards Jantar Mantar Road. Police stopped them near the Patel Chowk Metro parking area and subsequently detained several participants.
Yadav alleged that he was detained along with Bhattacharya, Anjali Bharadwaj, Bora and other protesters. Bhushan also criticised the police action. The Congress stepped up its nationwide campaign against the SIR of electoral rolls, demanding the resignation and removal of CEC and an independent review of decisions taken during the exercise. Protests were reported in several cities, with detentions and police action in some places. Congress workers demonstrated in Kolkata, Chandigarh, Patna and Guwahati, while Congress MLAs protested inside the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. Police used water cannons in Chandigarh and detained protesters in some locations. The party has announced district-level marches on September 28. Former CEC S Y Quraishi has called for an independent investigation into the allegations surrounding SIR. The controversy centres on electoral-roll changes and the process for protecting eligible voters’ names. Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said all decisions, including SIR, taken by Kumar are ‘null and void’. “We are sure the Supreme Court is watching what is happening and will take the right steps at the right time,” he said.