Protest March Plans by INDIA Bloc in Disarray Amid Absence of Police Permission

The Delhi Police have reported that no formal approval has been requested for the INDIA Bloc's proposed protest march from Parliament to the Election Commission on Monday. Although the opposition coalition declared its intention to demonstrate, no official application regarding the protest has been submitted, police officials affirmed.

In a related development, veteran Congress figure Digvijaya Singh announced on Sunday that INDIA bloc MPs would proceed with the march to contest the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleged voter fraud in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. During a press briefing, Singh claimed that Booth Level Officers in Bihar were allegedly completing "fake forms" in collusion.

Singh emphasized that Rahul Gandhi's revelations, including discrepancies in voter registration like a single name featuring in multiple polling booths, bolstered the demand for digitized voter lists that could identify duplicate votes cast under one EPIC number. Concerns were raised about the compressed timeline of the SIR in Bihar, a process that typically spans two years but is now expedited to one month.

Countering these allegations, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju stated on August 1st that the government is open to discussions on various issues, except the SIR, which he described as a standard procedure by the Election Commission, a constitutional body, thus exempt from parliamentary debate. Rijiju reinforced the precedent of SIR, underscoring its routine nature. (ANI)

(With inputs from agencies.)