INDIA bloc leaders to decide common strategy to cancel SIR: Congress

The Congress on Tuesday, 29 September, demanded the immediate suspension of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying the exercise had raised “serious concerns” over the integrity, transparency and the constitutional validity of the entire process.

The demand came after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, held against the backdrop of an Indian Express report on 22 September that two Election Commissioners—Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi—had objected on record at least 14 times in 10 months to SIR-related decisions "taken without their knowledge".

In a firefighting exercise, the Election Commission of India has since announced nine steps to address some of the concerns, though questions raised in the report remain contested.

Addressing the media after the CWC meeting, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had “forfeited all moral and institutional authority”.

Demanding the “immediate suspension of the SIR” and the restoration of 13.30 crore names removed from electoral rolls, the CWC also asked CEC to step down.

Venugopal said that the party would resist the "vote chori" and intensify the protest against the government.

Congress’s call for a wider “resistance movement” against the Modi government was first discussed in an INDIA bloc meeting in June this year. Addressing the meeting Rahul Gandhi had argued that the traditional methods of protests will not work, therefore an ideological and committed resistance movement is needed.

"Whenever the present government refuses to listen to the voice of the people of this country or heed their demands, there is only one way forward for parties that believe in democracy: to resist." said Venugopal.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the issue goes beyond the conduct of individual elections.

“The elections taking place in our country are not fair; this is an election involving match-fixing between Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and Gyanesh Kumar. The laws passed and acts created by the government on ‘vote theft’ are all illegal,” he said.

Ramesh also sought to explain the Congress’s argument linking irregularities in electoral rolls to the sanctity of the Parliament.

Rahul Gandhi in his media interaction after the India Express expose had said how the issue had implications for the legitimacy of laws passed by elected representatives.

“From vote-chori comes kanoon-chori, from kanoon-chori comes sanstha chori. This is the chain that has taken place. If the vote has been stolen and the MPs sitting in Parliament are there based on a stolen vote, then any law they are making is illegal, and any institutional change they make is also illegal,” Rahul had said.

He described the alleged irregularities as an “attack on the Constitution of India”.

The Congress has been raising concerns over electoral rolls and the conduct of the ECI for the past two years, with Rahul Gandhi citing what the party describes as evidence of “vote theft” in Mahadevpura in Karnataka and in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections.

“We oppose inside Parliament, resist on the streets, and we will continue to do so in the future as well,” Ramesh said.

The Congress’s demand for the immediate cancellation of the SIR assumes significance as the INDIA bloc is scheduled to meet in Delhi on Wednesday to discuss a common strategy on the issue.

Whether all the constituents of the bloc will endorse the demand for cancellation remains to be seen. The Opposition parties are also working on a motion seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, adding another dimension to the confrontation with the Election Commission.