New Delhi: A total of 23 opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, have written to Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant and other Supreme Court judges, expressing concern over the alleged manipulation of the electoral process and seeking the immediate suspension of the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls.
In the letter dated June 28, the leaders said they were taking the unusual step of approaching the judiciary because they believed the country's democratic institutions were under strain. They alleged that the voter verification exercise was "inherently exclusionary and politically motivated," claiming it had disenfranchised lakhs of genuine voters, particularly the poor, Dalits, Adivasis, minorities and other vulnerable groups lacking required documents.
The signatories include Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Supriya Sule, Farooq Abdullah, D. Raja, John Brittas, Sanjay Singh, Mehbooba Mufti and several other INDIA bloc and opposition leaders. Citing the West Bengal Assembly elections, the opposition claimed that around 27 lakh voters were removed from electoral rolls under the category of "logical discrepancies." They also referred to findings by a judicial tribunal headed by Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, which reportedly found that 1,717 of 1,777 deleted names examined had been wrongly removed.
The leaders also raised concerns over the continued use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), calling for a wider debate on restoring paper ballots to strengthen public confidence. They further alleged that central investigative agencies were being used to target opposition leaders and influence the electoral process, urging the Supreme Court to safeguard democratic institutions and constitutional values. (IANS)
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