AAP won't take part in INDIA bloc protest outside EC office on 6 October

The AAP on Monday said it will not be part of the INDIA bloc's October 6 protest over the raging Special Intensive Revision (SIR) row outside the Election Commission headquarters, saying the party is fighting its own battle.

AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said protests against alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls were being held every day at different places.

He said the party was not even using its banner because it believed the issue was a people's movement concerning the people of the country and that everyone should participate in it.

“The CJP's protest is also being held, and different organisations are also holding protests. The Left is also protesting in different places. As far as tomorrow's protest is concerned, it is the INDIA bloc's protest. So, the Aam Aadmi Party is not part of it. We are fighting this battle in our own way,” he said at the Parliament House complex.

On 30 September, after a meeting attended by 19 Opposition parties, INDIA bloc leaders announced that all their Opposition MPs would march to the Election Commission on 6 October and that the leaders would meet the President to highlight issues related to alleged irregularities in the voter list revision.

The AAP and DMK did not take part in the meeting.

The 30 September meeting was attended by top party leaders, including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, besides TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Left leaders.

Some Opposition leaders, including Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM chief Hemant Soren, participated in the meeting virtually.

The call for the protest comes amid a controversy over the alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission, following allegations by Opposition parties about the poll panel's handling of the SIR exercise.

An investigation by The Indian Express last month claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation. They also termed specific changes made to voter enrolment forms “unauthorised” and “illegal”.

The Election Commission has rejected suggestions of a split within the three-member panel and maintained that decisions relating to SIR were taken unanimously.