Delhi INDIA Bloc Plans October 7 Protest Over Voter Roll Revision

Delhi parties in the INDIA bloc have announced a joint protest for October 7 against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, calling for the process to be repealed and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign. The demonstration is planned outside an election office in the capital, though reports differ on how precisely to identify the venue. The Delhi Congress said the protest decision was made at a meeting of bloc parties. The participants included the Congress, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nationalist Congress Party and Revolutionary Socialist Party, among others. Delhi Congress general secretary Anil Bhardwaj said the parties want the revision process made transparent and conducted in accordance with constitutional provisions and voters’ rights. The bloc’s announced protest is a planned action; the available information does not establish that it has taken place. One account identifies the venue as the office of Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar at Kashmere Gate, while others describe it more generally as the Delhi Election Commission office.