New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) The Congress on Tuesday announced a massive show of strength at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan in the first week of December following a nationwide signature campaign against alleged “vote-chori” in which it claimed to have gathered five crore signatures.

The decision followed a high-level meeting of state and national Congress leaders to finalise the party’s strategy in the 12 states where the Election Commission has rolled out Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list.

The meeting, comprising senior functionaries, including state unit presidents, Congress Legislative Party leaders, general secretaries, and secretaries, was convened in Delhi. It was chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and was also attended by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

Addressing the assembled leaders, Kharge reiterated the party’s commitment to protecting the integrity of the electoral rolls and criticised the Election Commission’s handling of the SIR exercise. “When public confidence in democratic institutions is already strained, the Election Commission’s conduct during the SIR process has been deeply disappointing,” he alleged.

He urged the poll body to “immediately demonstrate that it is not operating under the shadow” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and should “remember its Constitutional oath and allegiance to the people of India”. Kharge accused the SIR exercise of being used as a tool to delete targeted sections of the electorate and to advantage the BJP.

Later, AICC general secretary (organisation) K. C. Venugopal and national spokesperson Pawan Khera shared with the media in a briefing that the party held a comprehensive strategy review with leaders from states and Union Territories where the SIR process is underway.

Venugopal claimed the design of the SIR was to remove specific names from electoral lists and pointed to Bihar as an example of where, the party contends, similar tactics have been used. He also raised procedural concerns, alleging the exercise is being rushed, contending that it should normally take six months to a year, and citing administrative stress on Booth Level Officers (BLOs).

The Congress leader pointed out reports of suicides among some officials in states such as Kerala, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh under pressure. Venugopal added that in Kerala, where the process of local body elections is going on and the first phase of polls will be held on December 9, the state Legislative Assembly has passed a resolution to postpone SIR.

He contended that the state Chief Electoral Officer has also made a request to the Election Commission of India to postpone the exercise, but that the poll body is not paying attention.

Announcing that the Congress will hold a massive rally in Ramlila Maidan early next month, Venugopal further said that his party will fight against the Election Commission’s “attempt to destroy democracy”.

In his media statement, Pawan Khera said that there was a unanimous voice against the “politicisation” of the Election Commission in Tuesday’s meeting.

Reiterating the party’s claim of foul play in Bihar, he alleged that “vote chori” is now being tried everywhere in India. According to Khera, Congress leaders present in the meeting agreed that the SIR exercise is for deleting votes, not for adding names.

–IANS

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