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Congress launches month-long campaign over voters left out during SIR.
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Party plans booth-level outreach, rallies and INDIA bloc protests through November.
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ECI says 13 crore figure covers draft-stage exclusions, while directing special drives to re-enrol left-out voters.
The Congress has announced a month-long campaign against what it calls “vote chori (theft)”, with the party planning door-to-door outreach at every polling booth to help voters whose names were left out of the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The decision was taken at a meeting of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi with Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presidents and state in-charges, ahead of the Opposition’s planned march from Parliament’s Makar Dwar to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday, 6 October.
The Congress has put the number of names affected at more than 13 crore. The Election Commission, however, has said the figure refers to electors marked as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate at the draft stage and does not represent final deletions from the electoral rolls.
Kharge on Monday reiterated the party’s three demands over the issue — the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, cancellation of the SIR and a return to ballot paper-based elections.
“There can be no compromise on the Congress party’s three demands. First, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar must resign; second, the SIR must be cancelled; and third, elections must be conducted through ballot papers,” Kharge said.
Briefing reporters on the decisions taken at the meeting, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said all Opposition MPs of the INDIA bloc would march peacefully from Parliament House to Nirvachan Sadan from 11.00 am on 6 October. Opposition parties have been asked to assemble at Makar Dwar at 10.30 am.
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