Shashi Tharoor Backs CJP Protest in Kochi Against Electoral Roll SIR

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor supports the CJP's protest in Kochi against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged illegal and unconstitutional actions during the exercise.

Shashi Tharoor Supports Kochi Protest

Thiruvananthapuram (Keralam) [India], November 7 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday backed the Cockroach Janata Party's (CJP) 'Jantar Mantar at Kochi' protest, saying that people should be allowed to express their views in a democracy. Speaking to ANI, Tharoor said, “We believe in democracy; let them protest. Let's see what people think,”

On the movement against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Congress MP said that it was aimed at defending constitutional democracy and protecting the voting rights of Indian citizens. He also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that several actions taken by the Election Commission during the exercise were illegal, unauthorised, unconstitutional or unfair.

Tharoor Demands Accountability

“The movement against the SIR is in defence of our constitutional democracy. The rights of Indian citizens to vote cannot be taken away by anybody else. As we are seeing during the current hearings in the Supreme Court, the Election Commission has had to acknowledge that we were right and that many of the things they did were wrong. They were either illegal, unauthorised, unconstitutional or unfair. Whether it is the illegal change to Form 6, the mass filing of Form 7, or the software overriding the rights of the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), all sorts of things are being gradually withdrawn...Why did they do the wrong thing in the first place? That is our question. And for that, there must be accountability, which is why we are asking Gyanesh Kumar to step down,” Tharoor said.

Protesters Gather at Kochi

His remarks came as CJP activist Abhijeet Dipke arrived at Kochi airport on Saturday to participate in the 'Jantar Mantar at Kochi' protest against the SIR of electoral rolls. Dipke said he was in Kochi at the invitation of the local organisers and actor-activist Prakash Raj. Speaking to the media after arriving at the airport, he described the demonstration as a "people's protest" and said the party's fight against CEC Gyanesh Kumar would continue until India has an "independent and impartial election system".

"It is a people's protest, and I am here on the invitation of the organisers and on the invitation of Prakash Raj. As I said earlier, the fight against Gyanesh Kumar will continue until we get an independent and impartial election system in India," Dipke said.

Expressing confidence that a large number of young people from Keralam would participate in the demonstration, Dipke said the state accounted for the highest number of registered CJP members, according to the party's database. "I am pretty sure the young population of Kerala, the youth of Kerala, would come today in large numbers because, for CJP, from our database, I can definitely tell you that the largest number of registered members of CJP are from Kerala," he added.

CJP's media and South Zone lead Vijay Mallangi and national secretary Aafreen Nawaz will also participate in the protest. The demonstration marks the party's first major move since its leaders were detained in Delhi on October 13 while attempting to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar against CEC Gyanesh Kumar and the SIR exercise. Dipke, along with other CJP leaders, including Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, was detained by Delhi Police for allegedly attempting to hold the protest at Jantar Mantar without permission. (ANI)

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