Bengaluru: The Freedom Park in Bengaluru turned into a battleground of political slogans and public dissent on Thursday morning as more than over 2,000 protesters gathered for a State-level mass demonstration and ‘People…

Bengaluru: The Freedom Park in Bengaluru turned into a battleground of political slogans and public dissent on Thursday morning as more than over 2,000 protesters gathered for a State-level mass demonstration and ‘People’s tribunal’, demanding the immediate scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and a return to paper ballots.The demonstration, organised by a coalition of progressive groups and various civil society organisations, saw notable participation from popular YouTuber and digital content creator Dhruv Rathee, who joined a public protest in India for the first time. Accompanied by actor-activist Prakash Raj, political commentator Parakala Prabhakar, veteran writer Devanuru Mahadeva and CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, the event drew a large turnout of Gen Z and youth activists.Addressing the gathering, leaders accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of acting as a “puppet” of the Union government. Organisers claimed that the SIR exercise has led to arbitrary and opaque voter deletions, alleging that out of 5.5 crore voters in Karnataka, over one crore names are facing risk or exclusion under the guise of processing Form 6 and Form 7 applications.SIR must be scrapped: Prakash Raj alleges disenfranchisement of eligible votersSpeaking on the sidelines of the event, former minister Mukhyamantri Chandru criticised the Central government’s policies. “In the name of SIR, they are snatching away the voting rights of legitimate citizens. It is an anti-constitutional move to manipulate electoral outcomes instead of winning fair votes. Just as electoral bonds were used to funnel money, SIR is being used to strip away Opposition votes,” Chandru told DH, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Protesters held up posters demanding “Sack Gyanesh Kumar”, “Scrap SIR,” and “Bring back ballot papers”, alongside banners commemorating revolutionary Che Guevara on the eve of his 59th death anniversary, Bhagath Singh and Chandrashekar Azad.SIR and the project of disenfranchisementPeople’s Tribunal convenedAs part of the day’s programme, a People’s Tribunal was convened at the venue to examine testimonies from citizens affected by voter roll deletions. The tribunal bench, which includes retired Supreme Court judge V Gopala Gowda alongside legal experts, will hear accounts of alleged administrative oversights and disenfranchisement during the ongoing revision drives across Karnataka.”The ECI has violated the fundamental tenets of democracy. A process that deletes millions of genuine voters under the pretext of removing duplicate or deceased entries cannot be tolerated. We demand the immediate reinstatement of all deleted voters,” said Kumar, one of the lead conveners of the protest.High security deploymentThe Bengaluru city police have deployed nearly 900 personnel around Freedom Park to maintain law and order and manage traffic bottlenecks along Seshadri Road. Security was tightened around the perimeter.

Source: Deccan Herald