A meeting of the INDIA bloc, the Congress-led alliance of opposition parties, is underway at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on Wednesday, where opposition leaders are discussing the Election Commission of India's (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists and the controversy surrounding India's Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, that has gripped the nation in recent days.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of India's main opposition Congress party, called for the rollback of the SIR, a hotly debated exercise to verify hundreds of millions of Indian voters that began last year. Kharge said that the "ballot belongs to the people" and the principle of "one person, one vote, one value" in Indian democracy was under a "serious threat." "It is shocking that as many as 13.3 Crore (133 million) voters have blatantly been removed from voter list. Their power to take part in a DEMOCRACY has been snatched. It is ordinary voters who should be deciding who comes to power rather than those who are in power," he said.
Wednesday's meeting comes after an investigative report by the Indian Express published last week said that there were differences within the Election Commission of India over decisions related to the SIR. The report stirred a political storm, with protests calling for the resignation of the poll body's chief, Gyanesh Kumar, for allegedly undermining the ECI's credibility. According to the Indian Express, Kumar's fellow election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, raised at least 14 formal objections over 10 months regarding voter registrations, deletions and restorations, as well as control of electoral-roll data, but those concerns were not taken into consideration. The report said that in one objection, one of the commissioners complained that the ECI acted against the written advice of two commissioners and claimed its action was "unauthorized and illegal."
The ECI has deemed all its decisions lawful, saying that differing views were a routine "part of decision-making." The three-member commission, comprising Kumar, Sandhu and Joshi, oversees the SIR, which the poll body says removes deceased, relocated and duplicate voters and also prevents the inclusion of "foreign illegal immigrants." However, opposition parties and critics allege that the exercise has gone beyond that remit and removed millions of eligible voters to the benefit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
On Wednesday, Kharge also called for the removal or resignation of Kumar, saying that there could be no credible election without an "independent and impartial" election body. He said that the ECI head's "very integrity" and "intentions" were under question. Last week, Congress carried out demonstrations across the country demanding Kumar's resignation. Pressure group Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which claims millions of supporters, said that it would launch nationwide protests on October 2 if Kumar does not step down.
This is Dharvi Vaid Dhulia from DW's studio in New Delhi, back with the Wednesday roundup of the biggest headlines capturing India's attention. Residents of the Indian capital, who have been waking up to cooler mornings, are discussing whether winter will arrive early. But apart from the nip in the air, there is also growing concern about the winter smog that chokes Delhi in the waning months of the year. The city, however, is trying to stay ahead of the smog with a winter action plan that includes construction curbs, vehicle restrictions and work-from-home arrangements.
In political news, opposition leaders from the INDIA bloc are meeting in New Delhi for a key meeting where they will discuss a joint response to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) row surrounding the country's poll body and calls for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. In sports news, Indian archers have struck gold twice. India's compound mixed team and women's team have both won gold medals.
Source: www.dw.com