New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) The Left parties on Wednesday sought to widen the agitation against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar beyond the INDIA bloc, calling for the participation of all non-NDA parties as well as civil society groups, artistes, writers and prominent personalities.
CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby said the Left front wanted to turn the agitation into a sweeping movement over what it described as erroneous functioning of the Election Commission (EC) under Kumar.
“Besides non-NDA parties, big, medium and small, we want the civil society to participate in the agitation, alongside artists, writers and cultural personalities,” Baby told PTI Videos.
He said this issue was separate from the organisational future or composition of the INDIA bloc, and individual parties would have to decide their position on the alliance.
“As far as the content of the INDIA bloc is concerned, that is a separate matter. It depends not only on INDIA bloc, but on each of these parties,” Baby said.
Opposition parties, including the Left front, are seeking Kumar’s removal in the wake of allegations of misconduct related to the functioning and decisions of the EC, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Top leaders of INDIA bloc parties met here on Wednesday to finalise an action plan for a joint agitation over alleged irregularities in the functioning of the EC and the conduct of SIR. Leaders from CPI, CPI(M), and other Left front parties joined the meeting.
Baby said the agitation should also reach out to parties that are not part of the INDIA bloc and have political differences with its constituents. “We are requesting them to join… this agitation must be made broader.”
The CPI(M) leader also pointed to concerns raised by parties belonging to the BJP-led alliance on the EC’s functioning.
“Three parties which are part of the BJP-led alliance have also raised questions. The Election Commission should clarify various matters,” he said.
Baby said the Left front wanted the issue to be framed as a broader democratic concern rather than one restricted to political parties.
“We want the INDIA bloc and also the larger opposition to take a clear-cut stand against the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar,” he asserted.
CPI(M) Rajya Sabha party leader John Brittas said the Left is seeking participation of opposition parties and civil society groups in the campaign against Kumar.
He said differences between parties at state level should not prevent them from cooperating on what the Left sees as a larger national issue.
“We have serious differences with Congress party in many states, especially in Kerala. That doesn’t prevent us to have an understanding with the party to face the larger challenge of taking on the BJP,” Brittas told PTI Videos.
On the possibility of DMK joining the wider mobilisation, Brittas said it was for them to decide.
CPI leader P Sandosh Kumar said the Left wanted to intensify the agitation and hoped parties outside INDIA bloc would also join.
“His resignation is the only solution,” he told PTI Videos, referring to the Left’s demand for Kumar’s removal.
The CPI leader said the INDIA bloc had limitations at state level, where its constituents can be political rivals, but said such differences need not prevent cooperation on a wider issue.
“Doors are open to all secular forces. So if you are fighting each other in a state, even then you can be part of the broader alliance (over this issue),” he said.
He cited Kerala, where the Left and Congress are political rivals but are part of INDIA bloc, and said a similar arrangement could emerge in Tamil Nadu.
The Left parties have been holding protests against the EC and have sought immediate halt to the SIR exercise, besides restoration of voting rights to those excluded from the electoral rolls. PTI AO ARB
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