Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has announced that it will participate in the opposition parties’ protest march in New Delhi on Tuesday against the alleged arbitrary actions of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the deletion of the names of more than 13 crore voters across the country.
“As directed by BJD Supremo and Leader of Opposition(LoP), Naveen Patnaik, the party’s Members of Parliament will participate in the protest march,” informed the BJD Parliamentary Party Leader in the Rajya Sabha, Manas Mangaraj, on Tuesday.
He further stated that the BJD Supremo had already demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over his controversial role in the SIR exercise. The senior BJD leader said that the alleged exclusion of more than 20 lakh voters in Odisha and over 13 crore voters across the country in the name of SIR has raised serious concerns.
“The incident in Dhamnagar has further strengthened these apprehensions. The deletion of 227 votes belonging to members of a minority community from a particular area, allegedly without the knowledge of the concerned BLOs, raises serious questions about the integrity of the SIR exercise,” alleged Mangaraj.
He added that thousands of voters have reportedly been excluded from the electoral rolls in the Dhamnagar Assembly constituency alone. At the same time, the voluntary retirement application submitted by the State Chief Electoral Officer has raised further questions and concerns.
The Rajya Sabha member notes that the Supreme Court’s observations regarding the modification of Form 6 have also raised serious questions about the Election Commission’s earlier directions concerning the SIR exercise. The Court clarified that no such direction had been issued by it, contrary to what had earlier been indicated by the Election Commission.
This, Mangaraj said, raises serious questions regarding the role of CEC Gyanesh Kumar in the alleged manipulation of electoral rolls.
“The BJD has maintained equal distance from both the INDIA bloc and the NDA. However, as a responsible political party committed to protecting democratic institutions and the integrity of the electoral process, the BJD will participate in today’s programme,” Mangaraj said.
IANS
