INDIA bloc meeting today: Who attended, who skipped amid SIR, EC row

The INDIA bloc on Wednesday held a key meeting at the Constitution Club in New Delhi to chalk out a joint strategy against the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and to discuss demands for action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said 19 parties were participating in the meeting -- Congress (INC), Samajwadi Party (SP), Trinamool Congress (AITC), NCP (Sharad Pawar), Shiv Sena (UBT), RJD, CPI(M), CPI, National Conference, PDP, JMM, CPI(ML), IUML, Kerala Congress (M), MDMK, VCK, RSP, Kerala Congress (Joseph) and All India Forward Bloc. He said the parties were united in their opposition to what they described as repeated assaults on the Constitution by the Modi government, including what the Congress termed a "vote chori" strategy through the Election Commission. Who attended? Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi attended the meeting. From the Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was present. Leaders from the Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI(M), NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) also attended. Congress general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal were among those present. Other Opposition leaders, including Jammu and Kashmir National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, were also reported to be part of the wider gathering. Who skipped? The Aam Aadmi Party and the DMK did not attend the meeting. AAP had already indicated that it would stay away, although the party said it would support an Opposition move against the CEC. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was also absent. The party was represented by MPs Harendra Malik and Maulana Mohibbullah Nadvi as Yadav was occupied with the Rajya Sabha nomination process in Uttar Pradesh. There were also reports that some INDIA bloc leaders were represented by party colleagues rather than attending personally. What was on the agenda? The meeting was held against the backdrop of the controversy over the SIR exercise and an Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions related to the revision exercise. The Opposition discussed demands including the use of pre-SIR electoral rolls for future elections, greater transparency in electoral-roll revisions and safeguards against the deletion of legitimate voters. The bloc also decided to step up its campaign against the Election Commission. Kharge later announced a nationwide "Save Democracy" programme from October 2 to 8 and said Opposition MPs would march to the Election Commission's office in Delhi on October 6.