19 Opposition parties to march from Parliament to Election Commission, demand CEC's resignation

Nineteen Opposition parties of the INDIA bloc will lay siege to the Election Commission in Delhi today, protesting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Opposition MPs of the bloc will take out a "Loktantra Bachao Morcha". The march is said to cover about 3 km, from Parliament to the headquarters of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The 19 parties in the march have 178 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 62 in the Rajya Sabha. They include the Congress, Samajwadi Party, TMC, Nationalist Congress Party (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), RJD, CPI(M), CPI, NC, PDP, JMM, CPI(ML), IUML, KC(M), MDMK, VCK, RSP, AIFB and KC(J). Other leaders and workers are also said to be joining the MPs.

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh outlined the next phase of the agitation. "The march will be held peacefully. Till October 8, all INDIA bloc parties will hold marches at the district level. There will also be demonstrations and meetings," he said.

Ramesh said, "To raise the issue of vote chori and to demand the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner, meetings will be held at the block level between October 10 and October 20. Between October 25 and November 25, 'Vote Karo, Desh Bachao' rallies will be held at the state and district levels, and at the chowk of every village. The aim of this month-long campaign will be to collect details of the 13.5 crore voters whose names have gone missing from the voter lists."

Meanwhile, security has been stepped up around the ECI headquarters on Tuesday after various organisations called for protests against the SIR process. Security has also been tightened at key locations in New Delhi since Friday. The agitation was announced after a meeting of the 19 Opposition parties on September 30.

Questions have also been raised about Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission. According to a report, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have officially recorded objections at least 14 times to decisions and orders related to the SIR. The report says the CEC overruled their objections and took decisions on his own.

The same report says some decisions were issued without the knowledge or recommendation of the two Election Commissioners. Since this came to light, there has been anger against Gyanesh Kumar across the country. Opposition parties and many citizens have made serious allegations against him and demanded his resignation. Opposition parties are now holding protests across the country demanding the CEC's resignation.