Hyderabad: A day after Gandhi Jayanti, Hyderabad witnessed a protest over the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls.
On October 3, a large number of protesters gathered at Dharna Chowk near Indira Park, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the ongoing SIR exercise. The protest was organised by around 12 organisations, including the Telangana unit of the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, and the Telangana People’s Front.
The demonstration began with a Hindi rendition of “Bella Ciao”, the Italian song associated with resistance movements. Protesters also gave SIR a new meaning, calling it “Special Intensive Resistance” as they raised concerns about the revision of electoral rolls.
The Three Demands
The protesters put forward three main demands.
The first was the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
The second was a change in the process of appointing the Chief Election Commissioner. Protesters demanded that the Chief Justice of India should be included in the selection process.
The third demand was the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
ALSO READ: Amidst CJP Protest, Sahil Wakode’s Parents and IIT Bombay Students Intensify Hunger Strike
Speakers at the protest raised concerns about the deletion of names from electoral rolls. They alleged that the SIR process could leave eligible voters out of the electoral system. Some speakers also compared the exercise with an NRC-like process, although these were claims made by the protesters and are not established findings.
M.V. Reddy of the Telangana People’s Front questioned the scale of deletions reported during the revision process and said that such changes could affect democratic participation.
Student activist Sreeja of the Disha Students Organisation also criticised the SIR process, alleging that an exercise meant to increase voter enrolment was instead being used to remove voters. Cybersecurity activist Srinivas Kodali raised another concern over the linking of databases during the revision process. He questioned how voter identities would be verified across different databases and argued that the issue needed wider public discussion. The Hyderabad protest comes amid a wider national campaign against the SIR process. Protests were also held in Mumbai and Delhi on October 2, with demonstrators demanding accountability from the Election Commission.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has defended the voter verification exercise and said steps are being taken to ensure that eligible voters are not left out.
The CJP has also announced another protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on October 10 if its demand for Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation is not met.