New Delhi, Oct 5 (PTI) The AAP on Monday said it will not be part of the INDIA bloc’s October 6 protest over the raging SIR row outside the Election Commission headquarters, as the party is fighting its own battle continuously.
AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said the protest against the alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls is being held every day at different places.
He said the party is not even using its banner because it believes that this is a people’s movement and an issue concerning the people of the country, and that everyone should participate in it.
“The CJP’s protest is also being held, and different organisations are also holding protests. The Left is also protesting in different places. As far as tomorrow’s protest is concerned, it is the INDIA bloc’s protest. So, the Aam Aadmi Party is not part of it. We are fighting this battle in our own way,” he said at the Parliament House complex.
On September 30, after a meeting attended by 19 opposition parties, the INDIA Bloc leaders announced that all its opposition MPs will march to the Election Commission on October 6 and the leaders would meet the President to highlight the issues related to alleged irregularities in the voter list revision.
The AAP and DMK did not take part in the meeting.
The September 30 meeting was attended by top party leaders — Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, besides TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Left leaders.
Some opposition leaders, including Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM chief Hemant Soren, participated in the meeting virtually.
The call for the protest comes amid a controversy over the alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission, following allegations by opposition parties about the poll panel’s handling of the SIR exercise.
An investigation by The Indian Express last month claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation, terming specific changes made to voter enrolment forms “unauthorised” and “illegal”.
The Election Commission has rejected suggestions of a split within the three-member panel and maintained that decisions relating to SIR were taken unanimously. PTI ACB
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