INDIA bloc likely to meet on 30 September over SIR and Election Commission

• INDIA bloc parties are likely to meet in New Delhi on 30 September to discuss the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and concerns about the Election Commission.

• The CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML)-Liberation have called for a halt to the SIR and Kumar’s removal; the Congress Working Committee is due to discuss its strategy on 29 September.

• The Election Commission has said differing views are part of normal institutional deliberations and that its orders follow the law.

Opposition INDIA bloc parties are likely to meet in New Delhi on 30 September to discuss the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and their concerns about the Election Commission, sources said.

The proposed meeting follows an Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on several occasions to decisions and orders concerning the SIR. Opposition parties have since been in touch about a joint response, the sources said.

CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby wrote to INDIA bloc and other opposition leaders seeking a meeting and later spoke to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. According to the sources, Banerjee agreed that the developments called for coordinated action, bringing the TMC and its West Bengal rival, the CPI(M), together on the Election Commission issue.

The CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML)-Liberation have demanded that the SIR be halted immediately, and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar be removed. The Congress has also intensified its criticism of Kumar, with its Working Committee scheduled to meet on 29 September to decide its approach.

Opposition parties are preparing a fresh notice seeking Kumar’s removal, sources said. Legal experts are expected to examine it before its proposed submission in both Houses of Parliament. If submitted, it would be the opposition’s third such attempt.

The Election Commission has said that differences of opinion are a normal part of its internal deliberations. It maintains that its orders have legal sanction and follow statutory procedures.

The latest discussions follow a joint approach to the Chief Justice of India by 23 political parties and an Independent MP over the SIR and other election-related concerns.

With PTI inputs