'SIR is Shahenshah Instigated Removal': Jairam Ramesh hits out at Centre over voter roll revision, backs Rahul Gandhi

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday came out in support of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi after the Delhi Police filed an FIR against him and other INDIA bloc leaders following their protest against the Election Commission of India. The FIR relates to Tuesday's demonstration, during which Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Opposition leaders allegedly entered the Akashvani Bhavan premises without permission. Ramesh linked the police action to Gandhi's campaign over alleged irregularities in the electoral process and said the Congress leader had been raising the issue with what he described as factual evidence for nearly two years. "For almost two years now the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has been relentlessly exposing, through factual evidence, the Vote Chori conspiracy hatched between the PM & the HM on one side and the CEC on the other," Ramesh said in a post on X. He also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were unsettled by the Opposition's campaign, describing the two as "nervous, rattled and desperate". "Crores of genuine voters have lost their Constitutional right to vote through the atrocious process of SIR -- Shahenshah Instigated Removal. And when the LOP-LS adopts the method of satyagraha to highlight the injustices of SIR, the Delhi Police registers an FIR against him and other leaders. The diabolical duo is nervous, rattled and desperate. The writing on the wall is clear," the post read. The protest had begun after police stopped INDIA bloc MPs from marching towards the Election Commission's headquarters, Nirvachan Sadan, which is around 300 metres from Akashvani Bhavan. The Opposition had planned the march over allegations of "vote chori". According to Delhi Police, the MPs had planned to proceed from Parliament House to Nirvachan Sadan without seeking or obtaining official permission. After they were stopped, several Opposition leaders, including Rahul and Priyanka, sat in protest near Akashvani Bhavan. The sit-in continued for more than eight hours before Rahul and Priyanka were briefly detained on Tuesday night. The protesters later entered the Akashvani Bhavan premises and continued their demonstration. Police said the leaders were asked to vacate the premises but allegedly refused, maintaining that they would not leave until a delegation of MPs was allowed to meet Election Commission officials.