Congress leader’s announcement comes after a report on objections raised by two Election Commissioners over decisions linked to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to address a press conference at 4 pm on Thursday amid a political row over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Gandhi’s announcement follows an Indian Express investigation which reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders linked to electoral-roll revisions. The objections reportedly concerned issues including voter additions and deletions, Form 6 and the handling of electoral-roll data.
The report has triggered criticism from Congress and other opposition parties. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to face criminal prosecution if allegations of electoral-roll tampering are established.
The Election Commission, however, has said the concerns raised by the two commissioners were part of internal deliberations and maintained that decisions relating to the SIR were taken unanimously.
The controversy also centres on the scale of voter-roll changes under the SIR exercise, with reports citing more than 13 crore names removed from draft rolls across states. The ECI has defended the revision process and its procedures.
Gandhi’s 4 pm press conference is expected to focus on the reported internal objections and the Opposition’s concerns over the electoral-roll revision process.
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