Anti-SIR People’s March on October 23: What the Alliance Wants
A coalition of student, farmer, worker and civil society groups calling itself People Against SIR has called a “People’s March to Reclaim Democracy” across India on Friday, October 23, against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls. The alliance, formed at a meeting in New Delhi on October 14, says people will march with the Tricolour at tehsil and district headquarters, state capitals and in Delhi. Its main demand is the removal and prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and it has asked INDIA bloc parties to join.
What the Alliance Is Demanding
Besides action against the CEC, the platform wants the SIR scrapped and every deleted voter restored to the rolls. It also wants changes to the 2023 law on appointing Election Commissioners, a new selection process, public audits of voter lists and a return to paper ballots. Its statement accuses the Commission of serving the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, and claims 13.41 crore people lost their vote. These are the alliance’s allegations.
The Election Commission has rejected the deletion figure. Earlier this month it called the 13-crore claim misleading, saying the number covers electors marked dead, shifted, absent or duplicate in draft rolls, not names finally removed, and that eligible voters can still file claims. It has also denied “vote chori” allegations.
Who Is Backing the March
The organisers’ poster lists actor Prakash Raj, advocate Prashant Bhushan, economist Parakala Prabhakar, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, transparency activist Anjali Bharadwaj, author Tushar Gandhi, scholar Ganesh Devy, Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, student leaders Neha Bora and Aishe Ghosh, and Viraaj Devang. Prabhakar, husband of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has called the SIR a “bloodless political genocide of citizenship”, The Free Press Journal reported.
In Delhi, the march is planned from Gurdwara Bangla Sahib to the Election Commission’s office, according to The Hindustan Gazette.
No Police Permission, a “People’s Parliament” Instead
The platform says it will not ask the police for permission anywhere. If a march is stopped, participants plan to hold a “People’s Parliament” on the spot and end with the national anthem. Platform member P Krishna Prasad said the movement “will continue till our demands are fulfilled”. No statement from Delhi Police on Friday’s march had been reported by Wednesday evening.
The call follows weeks of protests in the capital, including the arrest of Abhijeet Dipke and the detention of NSUI workers after Jantar Mantar was de-notified as a protest site on October 11. For voters, one practical point stands: anyone whose name was dropped can apply again through Form 6, as the Delhi High Court noted.
How many districts see marches on Friday, and how the police respond, will show whether the campaign can spread beyond Delhi.
Based on the People Against SIR statement and reporting by PTI via Deccan Chronicle, The Free Press Journal, The Hindustan Gazette and South First. The Election Commission’s response is as reported by The Free Press Journal.
Image: The Wire / PTI.
