BJD to join opposition protest march in Delhi demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation

BHUBANESWAR: The BJD said its MPs will participate in the opposition parties’ protest march in New Delhi on Tuesday demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over his alleged arbitrary actions in connection with the SIR of electoral rolls and deletion of names of more than 13 crore voters across the country.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Parliamentary Party leader in the Rajya Sabha Manas Mangaraj said the decision was taken at the direction of party president Naveen Patnaik.

"As directed by our party president Patnaik, oor MPs will participate in the protest march," Mangaraj said.

He said the BJD has been demanding Kumar’s resignation over his alleged role in the SIR exercise.

MPs of the INDIA bloc will march from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters to demand Kumar's resignation amid allegations of irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.

Leaders of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, respectively, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav are expected to join the march.

He, however, reiterated that the BJD has maintained equal distance from both the INDIA bloc and the NDA.

"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.

He said a BJD delegation would visit a police station in Delhi and submit a memorandum demanding Kumar’s resignation.

Mangaraj said the alleged exclusion of more than 25 lakh voters in Odisha and over 13 crore voters across the country in the name of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) had raised serious concerns.

The incident in Dhamnagar in Odisha’s Bhadrak district had further strengthened these apprehensions, he said.

"The deletion of 227 votes belonging to members of a minority community from a particular area (Dhamnagar), allegedly without the knowledge of the BLOs, raises serious questions about the integrity of the SIR exercise," the BJD leader said.

The BJD also said the deletion of thousands of voters from electoral rolls in the Dhamnagar Assembly constituency and the sudden voluntary retirement application submitted by state Chief Electoral Officer R S Gopalan had raised further questions and concerns.

The Supreme Court’s observations regarding the modification of Form 6 had also raised questions about the Election Commission’s earlier directions concerning the SIR exercise, Mangaraj said.

He said the court had clarified that it had not issued any such direction, contrary to what had earlier been indicated by the Election Commission.

"These matters raise serious questions regarding the role of CEC Gyanesh Kumar in the alleged manipulation of electoral rolls," Mangaraj said.