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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday backed the INDIA Bloc MPs' protest against the Election Commission over electoral roll revision and alleged deletion of voters' names, saying the opposition alliance had prepared a calendar of action beginning with a march to the poll panel.
In the INDIA Bloc meeting convened in the past few days, a calendar was prepared. It began with the MPs' march to the Election Commission, and this will go on, Omar Abdullah said. His remarks came amid the INDIA Bloc's protest in New Delhi over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and allegations concerning the deletion of voters' names. Opposition parties have been questioning the Election Commission's handling of electoral roll revisions and have sought greater scrutiny of the process. The opposition MPs marched towards the Election Commission as part of their programme of action, raising concerns over the electoral roll revision exercise and seeking accountability from the poll panel. Speaking on the issue, Omar Abdullah said concerns regarding the deletion of votes had been raised earlier as well, but claimed that they had received limited attention at the time. It had been advocated earlier, but only few heard. The Supreme Court is now raising questions over the deletion of votes, he said. The J-K Chief Minister said the opposition would wait for the proceedings before the Supreme Court and observe how the matter concerning the deletion of votes is addressed. We will wait to see how this matter will be treated in the court, he said. Leaders of several INDIA bloc parties have participated in the march and raised their concerns. The protest is part of a broader "Save Democracy" campaign announced by the Opposition, under which its leaders have been holding demonstrations and public programmes against the EC. The fresh controversy stems from The Indian Express report, which claimed that two of the Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, raised 14 objections during the SIR exercise. The ECI has maintained that the decisions were unanimous. The opposition leaders have raised questions over the modification in Form 6, after the Supreme Court on Monday said that it had not approved any modified version of Form 6 being used for enrolment of new voters during the SIR exercise. (ANI)
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