Slogans such as “SIR radd karo” (withdraw SIR) and “Gyanesh Kumar gaddi chhodo” echoed through Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Thursday as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) began its major protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Actor-activist Prakash Raj and popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee joined CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke at the demonstration, where the outfit organised a “People’s Tribunal” to raise alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls. The tribunal will be followed by a “Chappal protest”.
“The aim of this protest is not to remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar alone. If he goes, another will replace him. The protest comes amid continued demands by the CJP and Opposition parties for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR exercise.
Addressing the protestors gathered at the Freedom Park, the actor said that the Election Commission (ECI) had “insulted the entire country” through the SIR exercise. ‘In this country, people used to decide who forms the government but with SIR, the government is deciding who will vote,” the actor said. The aim is to scrap the SIR,” Raj said.
Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months regarding various decisions related to the SIR exercise, according to the report.
The demand has intensified following an Indian Express report which said that concerns over the deletion and subsequent restoration of voters’ names had also been raised within the Election Commission. Several people who attended the CJP event at Freedom Park said their names had been removed from the draft electoral rolls during the SIR exercise. The CJP alleged that they were categorised as “shifted” or “absent” despite continuing to reside at the same addresses.
