India news: Key opposition leaders meet to discuss poll body row

A meeting of the INDIA bloc, the Congress-led alliance of opposition parties, is underway at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on Wednesday, where opposition leaders are expected to discuss the Election Commission of India's (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists and the furor surrounding India's Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, that has gripped the nation in recent days.

Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of India's main opposition Congress party, called for the roll back of the SIR, a hotly debated exercise to verify hundreds of millions of Indian voters, that began last year.

Kharge said that the "ballot belongs to the people" and the principle of "one, person, one vote, one value" in Indian democracy was under a "serious threat."

"It is shocking that as many as 13.3 Crore (133 million) voters have blatantly been removed from voter list. Their power to take part in a DEMOCRACY has been snatched. It is ordinary voters who should be deciding who comes to power rather than those who are in power," he said.

Why India's poll body chief is under scrutiny

Wednesday's meeting comes after an investigative report by the Indian Express published last week said that there were differences within the Election Commission of India over decisions related to the SIR.

The report stirred a political storm, with protests calling for the resignation of the poll body's chief, Gyanesh Kumar, for allegedly undermining the ECI's credibility.

According to the Indian Express, Kumar's fellow election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, raised at least 14 formal objections over 10 months regarding voter registrations, deletions and restorations, as well as control of electoral-roll data, but those concerns were not taken into consideration.

The report said that in one objection, one of the commissioners complained that the ECI acted against the written advice of two commissioners and claimed its action was "unauthorized and illegal."

The ECI has deemed all its decisions lawful, saying that differing views were a routine "part of decision-making."

The three-member commission, comprising Kumar, Sandhu and Joshi, oversees the SIR, which the poll body says removes deceased, relocated and duplicate voters and also prevents the inclusion of "foreign illegal immigrants."

However, opposition parties and critics allege that the exercise has gone beyond that remit and removed millions of eligible voters to the benefit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Congress demands CEC Kumar's resignation

On Wednesday, Kharge also called for the removal or resignation of Kumar, saying that there could be no credible election without an "independent and impartial" election body.

He said that the ECI head's "very integrity" and "intentions" were under question.

Last week, Congress carried out demonstrations across the country demanding Kumar's resignation.

Pressure group Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which claims millions of supporters, said that it would launch nationwide protests on October 2 if Kumar does not step down.