By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Congress leaders from Uttarakhand on Thursday staged a protest outside the Election Commission office in the national capital over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, alleging large-scale irregularities in the exercise and wrongful deletion of names of eligible voters.
The Congress delegation submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission, urging it to intervene and ensure that no genuine voter is deprived of the right to vote.
Uttarakhand Congress leaders including state party President Ganesh Godiyal alleged that names of eligible voters were being removed from electoral rolls on the basis of incorrect claims that they were not residing at their registered addresses. They further alleged that young voters were being marked as deceased, while others were being shown as absent.
The party also questioned the manner in which objections and complaints were being filed during the revision process. According to Congress leaders, repeated complaints seeking deletion of voters’ names were allegedly being submitted by the same person in several cases, while the identity and address of the complainant remained unclear.
The Congress leaders also alleged that the process of serving notices to voters was being followed only on paper and that many people had not actually received the notices issued in their names. They questioned why action was not being taken against officials or individuals allegedly responsible for such irregularities.
Congress leader and party in-charge for Uttarakhand affairs, Kumari Selja, said the delegation had approached the Election Commission to place what she described as “serious facts” regarding alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise before the poll panel.
She questioned the Election Commission’s role, saying the constitutional body should maintain its independence and remain above the policies of any political party or government.
Selja said the Congress had traditionally respected the Election Commission and recalled that the poll panel had enjoyed considerable authority and institutional credibility in the past. “Every citizen’s complaint matters in a democracy and every citizen’s right to vote has constitutional importance,” Selja said, alleging that the BJP government had shown insufficient respect for constitutional institutions.
The Congress leaders also demanded greater transparency in the SIR process and effective mechanisms for voters to challenge wrongful deletions from the electoral rolls.
The protest comes at a time when the revision of electoral rolls in Uttarakhand has emerged as a politically contentious issue, with the Congress alleging that errors in the exercise could adversely affect genuine voters ahead of the state’s next Assembly election.
The party said it would continue to raise the issue until safeguards are put in place to ensure that no eligible voter is excluded from the electoral rolls.