INDIA Bloc To Meet On Sept 30 Over EC, SIR And Gyanesh Kumar

Top leaders of the INDIA bloc are scheduled to meet in New Delhi on Wednesday, September 30, to discuss a joint response to the Election Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, amid concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and reported differences among the three Election Commissioners.

The meeting will come a day after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meets on September 29 to finalise the party's position on the issue and its proposed campaign against what it calls “vote theft or vote chori”. Congress sources said the party would then seek to bring its INDIA bloc allies on board for a wider movement.

The Election Commission is expected to be the meeting's central focus, with the Opposition likely to discuss the demand for Kumar's resignation, an independent inquiry into the EC's decisions, and a roadmap for a nationwide agitation.

The Indian Express recently reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions taken by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar without their prior knowledge.

The objections reportedly concerned key aspects of the nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, changes to voter forms, and the centralisation of access to the voter database.

The revelations have intensified public scrutiny of the Election Commission and triggered political backlash, with Opposition parties demanding accountability and calling for Kumar’s resignation.

The parties are also expected to discuss concerns over the SIR, particularly the deletion of names from electoral rolls, delays in dealing with appeals and difficulties faced by new voters in enrolling themselves. Opposition leaders have argued that the exercise is exclusionary rather than aimed at ensuring that eligible voters remain on the rolls.

Congress sources said the SIR forms demanding names of grandparents were among the concerns being raised. If the required details are not available, voters cannot proceed to the next stage of the verification process, they said. “How many of us have details of our grandparents? All of this is to make SIR exclusionary,” said a source.

The meeting is also expected to take up the looming delimitation exercise and the elections ahead, including the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. However, sources said no detailed electoral strategy was likely to be discussed.

“The focus will be on the Election Commission and the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar,” said CPI MP P. Sandosh Kumar. He said Opposition parties had been raising concerns over the SIR since the Bihar election, and added that the recent developments involving the Election Commissioners had strengthened their concerns.

“Two of the Election Commissioners have now ratified what the Opposition has been saying all along,” he said.

“A democracy is where voters elect the government, but this government is choosing its voters. That is what SIR has become, a Special Intensive Removal of voters,” Kumar added.

He also questioned the delay in the government announcing the next parliamentary session. “The government has not prorogued the session yet and the nation needs to know why. This government functions under absolute secrecy, whose decisions are not transparent even to MPs of the ruling party. All of this will come up at the meeting,” he said.

The Congress has been leading the Opposition's campaign against the Election Commission. Rahul Gandhi had earlier alleged “vote theft or vote chori”, claiming that the BJP benefited from electoral manipulation in around 70 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 election.

The Opposition is expected to seek greater coordination among the constituent parties and project a common position on the EC and SIR. Left parties are also pushing for a broader mobilisation, including parties outside the INDIA bloc and youth and civil society organisations.

The meeting follows a series of discussions among Opposition leaders. Sources said All India Trinamool Congress founder and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spoke to Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby after Baby wrote to Opposition leaders seeking greater coordination over the Election Commission controversy.

Beyond the INDIA bloc, Baby reached out to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD). He also sent the appeal to the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which is not a registered political party.

Baby also met AAP national convener and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday as Opposition parties stepped up consultations. AAP will not be attending the September 30 meeting, said sources.

The DMK is also not expected to participate. DMK sources said the party was no longer part of the INDIA bloc and several of its senior leaders are also campaigning in Tamil Nadu ahead of the October 9 by-elections.

Among those expected to attend the September 30meeting are Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera; TMC leaders Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee; Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav and probably Akhilesh Yadav; Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut; RSP MP N.K. Premachandran; CPI(M) leaders M.A. Baby and John Brittas; CPI general secretary D. Raja and MP P. Sandosh Kumar; and CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, along with leaders of other constituent parties.

The INDIA bloc last met on June 8 at the Constitution Club in New Delhi, following the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry. Twenty-three parties attended the meeting, while the DMK stayed away because the Congress had decided to break away from the alliance and be part of the government in Tamil Nadu with their Opposition Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.

The bloc had held a series of larger meetings in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha election, with Opposition parties meeting in several cities to coordinate their response to the BJP-led government. The September 30 meeting comes as the parties seek to revive that coordination around the Election Commission and electoral rolls.