The INDIA Bloc, a coalition of 19 opposition parties, will march on Oct 6 from Parliament House to the Election Commission building in New Delhi to challenge the Election Commission’s handling of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
The decision came after a September 30 meeting in the capital where leaders such as Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Omar Abdullah, Tejashwi Yadav and Supriya Sule agreed to stage 'save democracy' rallies between Oct 2 and 8 and to lodge a representation with the President in the second week of October.
Sanjay Singh of the AAP told reporters on Monday that the party would not join the protest, citing its own fight for the people and insisting that it would use other means to address the SIR dispute.
Meanwhile, a three‑judge bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana heard petitions alleging that the Election Commission acted without the approval of both election commissioners and issued notices to the Commission and the Centre, but declined to restrain CEC Gyanesh Kumar from making decisions pending final disposal.
With the Supreme Court’s stance clear, opposition leaders are preparing to meet the President while the Election Commission faces mounting pressure to clarify its SIR process, and the protest is set to unfold under tight scrutiny from both the judiciary and the public.