Stonewalled in Parliament, Opposition to intensify protests against SIR

With neither the Election Commission (EC), presiding officials of either House of Parliament, nor the Centre showing any interest in the Opposition’s objections against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is set to intensify its protests.

On August 11, a day before the Supreme Court is scheduled to resume its hearing on a clutch of petitions that have challenged the ongoing SIR in Bihar, leaders of the Opposition Bloc will march in protest to Nirvachan Sadan, the poll panel’s headquarters, in New Delhi.

Opposition plan more joint protests

INDIA Bloc leaders are also expected to chalk out more ‘joint action’ protests against the SIR, which the poll panel plans to roll out in other states too, when they meet for an ‘informal dinner’ to be hosted by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday. (August 7).

Also read: Rajya Sabha passes Manipur Prez Rule resolution extension amid INDIA Bloc's SIR protest

Barring July 28, 29, and 30 -- when they participated in the discussion in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on issues related to the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor -- the Opposition has paralysed proceedings of Parliament with protests against the SIR since the Monsoon Session began on July 21.

With no let-up, INDIA MPs have been gathering outside Parliament’s Makar Dwar ahead of the day’s sitting to protest against what they call “votebandi” (alleged disenfranchisement), while multiple notices have been submitted by them on a daily basis to both Lok Sabha’s Speaker and Rajya Sabha’s deputy chairman, pressing for talks on the issue.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi alleges ‘vote theft’ by Election Commission in Bihar SIR

LS, RS heads have rejected Opposition protests

The presiding officials of both Houses have been resolute in rejecting the Opposition’s notices daily while echoing the Centre’s view that since the poll panel is an autonomous constitutional body, its actions cannot be discussed in Parliament.

Rejecting this argument, the INDIA Bloc has maintained that Parliament has the jurisdiction to discuss the EC’s controversial exercise, especially since the electoral roll revision not only threatens to “disenfranchise” lakhs of voters in Bihar -- and other states when it's rolled out nationwide -- but also prepares the ground for the Union home ministry to scrap the Indian citizenship of the excluded voters.

Also read: Bihar SIR pleas: SC fixes timeline, hearing on August 12, 13

SIR has united Opposition

The SIR stalemate has helped constituents of the INDIA Bloc put aside their internal differences and present a united front against what they feel is a “conspiracy” between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the EC to weed out voters from historically marginalised, economically backward, and minority communities who are disillusioned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and the BJP.

AAP MP attends Opposition's SIR presser

On Wednesday, August 6, the Opposition group also got another fillip when the Aam Aadmi Party, which had maintained for months that it was no longer part of the INDIA bloc, decided to send its Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, a close aide of party chief Arvind Kejriwal, to join an INDIA bloc press conference on the SIR issue.

While AAP sources told The Federal that Pathak’s presence “should not be seen as a sign of our return to the alliance”, they stressed that their party “stood firmly and unconditionally with the Opposition in resisting the undemocratic and unconstitutional revision of electoral rolls”.

The Trinamool Congress, another constituent of the INDIA bloc that had maintained a distance from any joint Opposition initiative for the past several months, has stood with the Opposition flock on the SIR issue since the Monsoon Session began.

TMC, RJD back SIR protests

At Wednesday’s media interaction, the West Bengal-based party was represented by its Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose who said the SIR is “against democracy” and alleged that scores of Bengali-speaking people who have been removed from the draft voter list in Bihar on mere suspicion of being illegal Bangladeshi migrants were being “put in detention centres”.

Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha, who is among the petitioners challenging the SIR in the Supreme Court and whose party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), has been most vocal against the exercise, likened the SIR to a “daylight dacoity” of citizens’ right to vote.

Notably, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi, along with leaders of various INDIA Bloc parties from Bihar, are expected to launch a yatra across the poll-bound state later this month and also address a massive rally in Patna’s iconic Gandhi Maidan to highlight, among other issues, the BJP and EC’s “conspiracy for votebandi”.