Several Members of Parliament from the INDIA bloc, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, staged a symbolic protest in the Parliament House complex on Friday against the Election Commission’s Special Summary Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar.
As part of the protest, the opposition MPs tore posters bearing the word 'SIR' and threw them into a 'disposal bin', demonstrating their outright rejection of the exercise. The act was performed on the Makar Dwar steps within the complex, with leaders from the Congress, DMK, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, JMM, RJD, and Left parties participating.
Prior to this, the MPs held a protest march with a banner that read "SIR – Loktantra Par Vaar" (SIR – An Attack on Democracy), demanding a rollback of the initiative and a formal discussion on the issue in both houses of Parliament. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Modi-led government of attempting to erase the votes of marginalised groups including the poor, Dalits, tribals, backward classes, minorities, and the underprivileged, as part of a broader plan to undermine the Constitution.
In a strongly worded post in Hindi on X (formerly Twitter), Kharge said, “The RSS-BJP has always wanted to deny the right to vote to weaker sections of society. Now, through the SIR process, they are determined to carry out this decades-old agenda.”
He further alleged that the Election Commission, a constitutional body, was aiding the BJP and RSS in this conspiracy of “vote-bandi” (vote blockade). “The entire country has seen how Booth Level Officers (BLOs) of the Election Commission in Bihar are getting their own people to fill out forms, aiming to strip the voting rights of the disadvantaged. This is only a prelude to what they plan to implement nationwide,” Kharge added.
“The BJP harbours hatred towards the Indian Constitution and democracy. Every day, it devises new methods to undermine the Constitution authored by Dr BR Ambedkar and Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru,” he said.
The protest drew participation from several senior opposition figures. Alongside Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, the MPs chanted slogans such as “Save Democracy” and “Stop Vote-Bandi”, highlighting their concerns over what they see as a targeted disenfranchisement campaign.
In another post on X, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shared images from the protest and expressed outrage over the nationwide implementation of the SIR. “Our Constitution gives every Indian the right to vote. Snatching this right from poor citizens is equivalent to destroying democracy. This is unacceptable,” she said.
Later, the protesting MPs also gathered in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue within the Parliament complex to raise slogans and register their dissent against the SIR. The INDIA bloc has continued to raise objections to the Election Commission’s voter list revision in Bihar, alleging that it is a deliberate move to disenfranchise specific voter groups ahead of upcoming elections in the state.
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