New Delhi, Sep 26 Opposition INDIA bloc parties are likely to meet in the national capital on September 30 to discuss their strategy on the Election Commission, the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and other issues, sources said on Saturday.
They indicated that a discussion on coordinated protests is also likely.
The proposed meeting comes amid increased coordination between opposition parties following reports of differences within the Election Commission over aspects of the SIR exercise and growing demands for removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The opposition parties are likely to discuss ways to mount an organised campaign on the issue, sources said.
Several INDIA bloc leaders have called for opposition parties, civil society groups and people at large to come together against concerns surrounding the electoral process.
Trinamool Congress national joint secretary Derek O’Brien said the demand for CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s removal would remain central to the opposition campaign. Other demands, including changes in the CEC selection process and opposition to the SIR, would also be pursued.
“First, GK (Gyanesh Kumar) has to GO. Certain other demands have been raised as well. Those demands are very much in place, including how a CEC is selected and how SIR was a fraud. We will work unitedly, purposefully and swiftly,” O’Brien said.
Former West Bengal chief minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said she has conveyed to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi that opposition parties should sit together.
Banerjee also spoke to CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby, who had reached out to the INDIA bloc and other opposition leaders seeking a wider mobilisation over the Election Commission issue.
The developments have brought the Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), bitter political rivals in West Bengal, on the same page.
Left parties, including the CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML)-Liberation, have demanded Kumar’s removal and an immediate halt to the SIR exercise. They have also announced united protests against the exercise.
CPI(ML)-Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya welcomed the proposed INDIA bloc meeting, saying it was “long overdue”.
“SIR, Gyanesh Kumar are the two crucial issues on everyone’s mind. With Gyanesh Kumar as its head, the Election Commission loses all credibility. The SIR has to stop. Now, the number (of deleted voters) is 13 crore; all wrongfully deleted people have to be brought back. Even if one person’s right to vote is compromised, it is a failure of democracy,” he said.
“We will try to make the voice of the people as loud as possible,” Bhattacharya said.
The Congress Working Committee is scheduled to meet on September 29 to discuss the party’s strategy on the issue.
Opposition parties are also working on a fresh notice for Kumar’s removal, which is likely to be submitted in both Houses of Parliament after being vetted by legal experts. This would be the opposition’s third such attempt.
The latest mobilisation follows a news report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on 14 occasions over decisions and orders related to the SIR exercise.
The Election Commission has maintained that differing views and observations are a normal part of institutional deliberations. The poll body has asserted that its orders have full legal sanction and follow statutory procedures.
Earlier, 23 political parties and an Independent MP had jointly approached the Chief Justice of India over the SIR process and other election-related issues, underlining the broader opposition coordination on the matter.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), an outfit active on youth- and education-related issues, has also announced a nationwide protest seeking the CEC’s resignation. It warned of “Jantar Mantar 2.0” if Kumar refuses to resign.
Earlier, the CJP had held a 36-day agitation at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against irregularities in examinations, which ended on July 25 following the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
(PTI News)
