Kathmandu. Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has called for a ‘Vote Bachau’ rally. Accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of rigging the voter list, he has called upon the general public to participate in the ‘Vote Bachau, Desh Bachau’ rally to be held in New Delhi on November 1.
Congress leader Gandhi has asked students, farmers, workers, women, youth and businessmen to participate in the rally to be held at Ramlila Maidan through social network X on Sunday. “Common people’s names have been removed from the voter list. Rules and laws have been broken,” he wrote, “people will no longer tolerate this tyranny in silence.”
Opposition parties allege that the Special In-depth Amendment (SIR) process being conducted by the Election Commission may disenfranchise eligible voters and benefit the BJP. According to preliminary data, it is claimed that more than 130 million names have been removed from the draft voter list.
Earlier this month, the opposition coalition protested in New Delhi accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of abuse of office. The protesters demanded his resignation.
The Election Commission has been saying that the SIR process has been conducted to clean and update the voter list. Meanwhile, civil society, human rights activists, farmers, dalits, youth and student organizations formed a human chain and demonstrated against SIR in Hyderabad on October 24.
The protesters have expressed their apprehension that this process may disenfranchise nearly half of the voters in Telangana. They have criticized the police’s use of force against protesters, especially in Delhi, saying that peaceful protest is a constitutional right of citizens. The SIR process is going on in Telangana. The final voter list is scheduled to be published on November 9. DW