Kolkata, Sep 25 Left women’s organisation AIDWA on Friday took out a rally to the CEO’s office here, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and reinstatement of all names deleted from the voter list during the SIR exercise.
The agitation took place in the backdrop of an Indian Express report claiming Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge, even as the national rollout of the SIR was under the supervision of the full commission.
Their objections covered the manner in which the statutory voter registration Form 6 was amended, the handling of additions and deletions from voter lists, and centralised control over the electoral roll database, according to the report.
Alleging that there had been irregularities in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, CPI(M) leader Minakshi Mukherjee said all the deleted names must be reinstated.
“The Election Commission must reinstate the deleted names in the voter list,” Mukherjee said.
The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) took out a rally from Esplanade to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) amid the raging SIR row.
During the march, participants in the rally broke through a police barricade in the Bowbazar area of central Kolkata.
The AIDWA later submitted a deputation to the CEO, demanding the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar and reinstatement of all names deleted in the SIR process, its leader Kaninika Ghosh said.
On Thursday, five Left parties demanded removal of the CEC and a halt to SIR of electoral rolls, announcing week-long protests across the country from September 26 to October 2.
(PTI News)
