Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Saturday staged a protest outside the Election Commission office in Chandigarh against alleged ‘vote chori’ and irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Senior party leader and Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia was detained during the demonstration, said the police.
The protest was organised by youth groups in solidarity with the Cockroach Janta Party’s campaign against alleged electoral manipulation.
The demonstrators demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, raising concerns over the revision of voter lists and the protection of citizens’ voting rights.
Senior AAP leaders, including Punjab President Aman Arora, Cabinet Ministers Harpal Singh Cheema and Baljit Kaur and party media in-charge Baltej Pannu, participated in the massive protest alongside party workers.
The party had announced its support for the youth-led demonstration ahead of the protest.
Sisodia criticised the alleged deletion of voters’ names, asserting that voting rights belonged to citizens and could not be taken away arbitrarily.
He has accused the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission of undermining democratic rights through alleged irregularities in the voter-list revision process.
The detention of Sisodia and other AAP leaders marked a significant development in the Chandigarh demonstration, which formed part of a wider political mobilisation over voter-list revisions and demands for accountability from the Election Commission.
Security was stepped up at the protest venue ahead of the protest.
On protests against SIR, Punjab BJP chief Kewal Singh Dhillon said he did not understand who they were blaming.
“The Aam Aadmi Party itself has engaged in vote theft. During the municipal elections, the Supreme Court directed re-elections in Patiala, Moga and Baghapurana because the AAP rigged the polls…They are now protesting over the same issue. They should be ashamed,” he said.
