Voter List SIR Row: Bengaluru Tribual, Congress Protests In Karnataka & Telangana - India Today
Protests erupted across southern India over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged mass voter deletions. In Bengaluru, actor Prakash Raj and the Cockroach Janata Party staged a People's Adalat at Freedom Park to address voter grievances regarding Form 6 and Form 7, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Affected citizens demonstrated with documents claiming eligible names had been removed from the voter rolls. Meanwhile, the Karnataka Congress held a black flag demonstration outside its party office, opposing the detention of opposition leaders in Delhi and demanding an inquiry into private data enumeration agencies. In Telangana, opposition parties, led by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee, marched from the Ambedkar statue towards Lok Bhavan in Hyderabad, seeking the immediate sacking of the CEC and an end to the SIR process.
Opposition leaders from the INDIA bloc are assembling for a lunch meeting in central Delhi to finalise their protest strategy, even as heavy security arrangements are put in place. Personnel from Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force, including women personnel, have deployed barricades and set up cordons outside the venue to manage any prospective march. Workers from the Youth Congress and the National Students' Union of India have gathered and raised slogans ahead of the arrival of senior leaders.
Buses are stationed on site, sparking anticipation over whether the parliamentarians plan to march towards Jantar Mantar, Raj Ghat, or the Election Commission's office following previous detentions. Key figures, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, are expected to join discussions regarding demonstrations against alleged vote theft and the Chief Election Commissioner.