Nagpur Congress workers scale barricade in SIR protest march, detained by police

The city Congress took out a march in Nagpur alleging that names of eligible voters in Nagpur district were being deleted from the electoral rolls in the name of SIR. The march was led by city Congress president Praful Gudadhe. It set out from Samvidhan Chowk towards the Collector's office.

Workers took to the streets carrying placards. The slogans on them included "Not the Election Commission, a branch of the BJP", "The 2024 election was fake" and "Modi, Shah, Gyanesh Kumar, answer us". When the march headed for the Collector's office, police stopped it with barricades near the office of the Traffic Police Commissioner, Vishwas Nangare Patil.

Workers grew angry at being stopped. They climbed the barricade and raised slogans loudly. An effigy of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was also burnt. Slogans were raised against the Election Commission and the Central government, and the resignation of the election commissioner was demanded.

Meanwhile, police began arresting the protesters, which caused momentary panic. The office-bearers and workers who were arrested were later released.

During the protest, one worker wore a mask of the election commissioner and was handcuffed. Gudadhe was holding him. Slogans such as "Vote chor, gaddi chhod" and "Dictatorship will not be tolerated" were also raised during the march.

A sit-in was then held for some time in front of the Collector's office. Gudadhe demanded that voters' rights be protected, that transparency be maintained in the election process and that eligible voters' names remain on the rolls. He also demanded that constitutional and democratic values be protected.

MLA Sanjay Meshram, former MLA Ashok Dhawad, district president Ashwin Bais, former Zilla Parishad vice-president Kunda Raut, Nanda Parate, Purushottam Hazare, Subhash Khode, Vasudev Dhoke, Mohammad Kalam, Usha Kharbikar, Yajnavalkya Jichkar, Damodar Dharmale, Prashant Jagyasi, Anil Machhale, Prashant Dhakane, Prasanna Jichkar and Nana Jhode were among the large number of office-bearers and workers who took part.

Leader of the Congress legislature party Vijay Wadettiwar alleged that the party took out the march against the ruling BJP's dictatorial tendency in the country and the arbitrary functioning of the Election Commission.

Wadettiwar alleged that in the name of the SIR process, the names of eligible voters entitled to their right to vote have been deliberately removed from the rolls. According to him, this is not merely a technical glitch but an attempt to use the administrative machinery to deprive people who support the opposition of their right to vote. He said this was directly vote theft and an open murder of democracy.