Bengaluru: At CJP rally, Prakash Raj demands SIR rollback, crowd chants 'vote chor gaddi chhor'

Actor-activist Prakash Raj on Thursday demanded that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls be scrapped, saying the campaign against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should not be limited to seeking his resignation.

He alleged that Kumar was "acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah" and accused the Centre and the Election Commission of "insulting the voters".

"Who are they to take away our votes? This is serious wrongdoing," Raj said, raising slogans of "Vote chor, gaddi chor".

Raj said the issue went beyond Kumar's resignation.

"Our fight is not merely for the resignation of Kumar. Even if he goes, another person, Agyanesh Kumar, may come in his place. That's not what we want. We want the SIR to be scrapped totally," he said.

He said politicians approached voters every five years seeking their support and votes, but voters were now being forced to seek restoration of their voting rights.

The protest, described as a "People's Tribunal", was attended by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and CJP founder Abhijit Dipke. People from across Karnataka who said they had been affected by the SIR were expected to participate in the event, followed by a "Chappal protest" in solidarity with women.

.'Game on': Prakash Raj claims loss of voting rights after Karnataka SIR. Dipke alleged that voter deletions under the SIR were aimed at disenfranchising people who opposed the BJP. He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission of undermining democracy.

He claimed that people whose names had allegedly been deleted from electoral rolls were present at the protest to demonstrate that they were alive.

"People who were declared dead are standing here alive. So the death that has taken place is not the death of these people. It is the death of the democracy of this country," Dipke said.

Dipke also alleged that volunteers associated with the CJP had been detained across the country and called on people to take to the streets.

Rathee, who also addressed the gathering, raised questions over the Election Commission's accountability and the implementation of the SIR in states including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The protest drew a growing crowd at Freedom Park, where slogans including "SIR band karo" and "Vote chor, gaddi chor" were raised.

The Karnataka Police had increased security around Freedom Park and installed barricades ahead of the demonstration.

The protest came amid a wider opposition campaign against Kumar, with INDIA bloc leaders in Delhi also demanding his resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise.

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