Assam Congress to hold Guwahati protest on September 25 over alleged EC irregularities

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee will hold a protest march in Guwahati on September 25 against what it described as alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission of India and the actions of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

According to a statement issued by the party on Thursday, the protest march will begin from the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters and proceed towards the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Assam.

The Congress said protesters will burn an effigy of the CEC and demand his immediate removal from office and arrest, besides seeking an independent high-level review of alterations made to electoral rolls during his tenure.

The agitation comes amid a political controversy over the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. A report published by The Indian Express on September 23 said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over a 10-month period to decisions concerning voter registration, deletions, electoral-roll data and related processes.

The report said the objections included concerns over changes to Form 6 for new voter registration, access to electoral-roll databases, appeals relating to voter deletions in West Bengal and software-related issues affecting eligible voters in Goa.

The Election Commission, however, has rejected the suggestion of a decision-making split, saying that decisions concerning the SIR and other matters were taken with the approval of all three commissioners.

The Assam Congress said the reported developments vindicated concerns repeatedly raised by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the party over the functioning of the electoral machinery. The Congress has alleged that the electoral process was being manipulated to benefit the ruling BJP.

The party also announced that similar protest rallies would be held outside the offices of district commissioners across Assam on September 28.