Dhruv Rathee, Prakash Raj join CJP SIR protests as Bengaluru shares epicentre with Delhi
A People’s Tribunal, headed by retired SC judge V Gopala Gowda and other legal experts, convened at venue to hear testimonies from citizens with SIR issues
More than 2,000 people, including students, women, and civil society activists, gathered at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Thursday (October 8) to protest the Election Commission’s (EC) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, demanding its immediate withdrawal and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Activists, students join hands
Organised by a coalition of progressive groups and the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), the demonstration featured prominent participants such as YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, actor-activist Prakash Raj, political commentator Parakala Prabhakar, writer Devanuru Mahadeva, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, and SFI leader Aishe Ghosh.
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The protest venue echoed with slogans against alleged voter deletions, with demonstrators carrying placards reading “Error 404 - Name Not Found”, “Don’t erase us, hear us”, “Dictatorship will not be tolerated”, “Sack Gyanesh Kumar” and “Bring back ballot papers”.
Posters featuring freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose and Chandrashekar Azad also appeared alongside banners commemorating the revolutionary Che Guevara on the eve of his 59th death anniversary.
What they said
Addressing the gathering, Rathee alleged there was “zero transparency and zero accountability” in the SIR exercise, while clarifying that he had not joined the protest for any “regime change”.
Prakash Raj accused the EC of undermining citizens’ rights and alleged that the CEC was acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
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Dipke went further, accusing the Centre and the EC of “murdering democracy” through voter deletions and vowed to continue protests until CEC Kumar stepped down. “We will hit the streets, reclaim democracy and continue agitation till the CEC resigns,” he added.
‘One crore voters at risk of disenfranchisement’
The organisers alleged that the revision exercise could lead to large-scale disenfranchisement and claimed more than one crore voters in Karnataka were at risk of exclusion through Form 6 and Form 7 processes.
A People’s Tribunal, headed by retired Supreme Court judge V Gopala Gowda and other legal experts, was convened at the venue to hear testimonies from citizens who claimed their names had been removed from electoral rolls.
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Among them was Bengaluru software engineer Mujibur Rehman, who alleged that his name had been deleted without his knowledge and questioned who had sought its removal. “We have been robbed of our right to vote. It is our democratic right. We have to be together to save democracy, because I have lost my own vote.”
Security beefed up
The people’s tribunal was scheduled to be followed by a “Chappal protest” in solidarity with women.
Police deployed nearly 900 personnel around Freedom Park and maintained tight security throughout the protest.
(With agency inputs)