Civil society groups protest against SIR

metro india news  I hyderabad

Members of civil society groups and Left-affiliated organisations held a protest here on Saturday, demanding the rollback of the SIR of electoral rolls and the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

The protest was held at Tank Bund along Hussain Sagar lake here. Carrying the Indian tricolour, the protesters raised slogans against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, Chief Election Commissioner Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The participants included prominent personalities and activists like Prof. Haragopal, economist Parakala Prabhakar, MLC Kodandram and retired IAS officer Akunuri Murali. The protest was organised by People Against SIR, a coalition of several civil society and student organisations.

SFI, National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), PDSU, and several civil society and student groups co-organised the event, the organisers said in a release. Economist Parakala Prabhakar said the government has denotified Jantar Mantar as a protest site but wherever objections to SIR are expressed in the country it becomes Jantar Mantar. "Are you trying to denotify every town in this country. Are you trying to denotify every person in the country," he told reporters. Prabhakar is the husband of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

He demanded scrapping SIR, "restoring eligible voters," disbanding the Election Commission and that the selection committee of Election Commissioners should comprise the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India. Kiran Vissa of NAPM alleged that although the organisers wanted to hold the protest across the entire Tank Bund and form a human chain, the police imposed restrictions.

He alleged that the Election Commission is acting as an extension of the BJP. The NDA government brought an amendment to the Election Commission Act in 2023 which allows PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah together to "appoint" the Election Commissioners. Earlier, the Chief Justice of India was also involved, he said. Vissa said the main demands of the groups include rolling back the present SIR and re-starting the process as per a 2002 manual, the resignation of CEC Kumar, and the repeal of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Act, 2023.