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Youth Congress members on Wednesday held a protest march in Thiruvananthapuram demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, amid the INDIA bloc's escalating confrontation with the Election Commission over electoral reforms and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.
During the protest, Youth Congress members removed SFI banners and staged a demonstration after alleging that members of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) attacked them. Police later used mild lathi charge and tear gas to disperse the gathering. The protest in Keralam came on the same day when INDIA bloc parties, after a coordination meeting in New Delhi, demanded the immediate resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, rollback of the SIR exercise, and a return to ballot papers for future elections. Following the meeting held at the Constitution Club in the national capital, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced a nationwide protest programme, saying INDIA bloc leaders would organise a "Save Democracy March" at the district level from October 2 to October 8. Kharge further said that opposition MPs would march to the Election Commission on October 6, while opposition leaders would meet President Droupadi Murmu in the second week of October to raise concerns over alleged institutional issues. The demands were criticised by the BJP, with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan attacking the Opposition over its allegations. "If they win, democracy zindabad; if they lose, Election Commission murdabad," Chouhan said, terming the criticism against the poll body a result of "frustration after defeat." The INDIA bloc meeting was attended by leaders from Congress, SP, AITC, NCP(SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), RJD, CPM, CPI, JKNC, JKPDP, JMM, CPI-ML, IUML, KC(M), MDMK, VCK, RSP, KC(J) and AIFB. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav skipped the meeting but sent two SP MPs to represent the party. Listing the bloc's demands, Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal accused the CEC of "rigging" elections. "Our non-negotiable demands are: Gyanesh Kumar's immediate removal, use of pre-SIR electoral rolls for all future elections, use of ballot papers and not EVMs and an effective appeals mechanism for all those excluded from the voter rolls, besides protection for genuine voters from exclusion due to technical/administrative reasons," Venugopal said in a post on X. Addressing the meeting, Kharge said India's democratic system was built on the principle of "one person, one vote, one value" and alleged that it was facing a threat. "Across the country, citizens and political parties are raising grave concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission," Kharge said. He alleged that questions over EVMs, voter-list manipulation and changes in electoral rolls had not received adequate answers. (ANI)
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