NEW DELHI: Opposition leaders on Monday marched towards the Supreme Court, intensifying their campaign against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged irregularities in voter deletions.
The march, organised under the banner “Chalo Dilli – March for Democracy”, was led by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Among those participating were Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC leader Mamata Banerjee, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, CPI leader D Raja, CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby, NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and IUML leader E.T. Mohammed Basheer.
Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Shashi Tharoor and Sachin Pilot also joined the protest, along with other opposition MPs and supporters.
The protesters alleged that the voter-list revision could deprive eligible citizens of their voting rights and demanded accountability from Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The march was halted by police near the Supreme Court amid tight security.
Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders filed a joint petition seeking scrutiny of alleged discrepancies in voter deletions, safeguards against wrongful exclusion and an independent examination of the revision process. The Supreme Court was expected to take up the plea on Tuesday.