Congress Holds Key Meet Over SIR Irregularities, Calls for Statewide Protests

The Congress held a key meeting on concerns surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Telangana. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud said the meeting, chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal, discussed the party’s concerns over the SIR process and its future course of action. He said Rahul Gandhi stressed the need to protect the voting rights of every eligible citizen.

Mahesh Kumar Goud said the party plans to hold continuous programmes over the next two months. The PCC will organise protests and rallies from the village level to the state level on October 6 and 7, followed by a protest at Lok Bhavan on October 8. The Congress has alleged that a large number of eligible voters are being removed from electoral rolls under SIR and has demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Election Commission and ruling-side leaders have rejected the opposition’s allegations and maintained that the exercise is aimed at correcting electoral rolls.