'Har galli Jantar Mantar': Farmers, women, youth form joint platform against SIR

A new joint platform comprising farmers, workers, women, youth among others, named People Against SIR, on Wednesday demanded an “outright rejection” of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a day before a five-judge Independent Commission on SIR starts an in-camera hearing of voter testimonies in the Capital.

“There will be no support to ‘fixing’ SIR, instead we stand firmly together for an outright rejection and annulment of SIR,” the platform, which was formed on Wednesday, said in a press statement issued from Surjeet Bhavan.

The Independent Commission, chaired by Justice Madan Lokur, is scheduled to hold the closed-door hearing on Thursday from 9am to 1.30pm at Jawahar Bhawan. It will hear grievances relating to the SIR, according to a notice issued by the commission’s secretariat. The hearing was proposed by the Lawyers’ Association for Constitution. The commission also includes Justice AK Patnaik, Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed, Justice Rekha Sharma and Justice Anjana Prakash.

The platform said it will submit the findings of its public audits of voter lists to the panel. The Election Commission of India (ECI) did not respond to the platform’s demands till the time of filing this report.

The SIR is a drive to verify and update electoral rolls, and it has become a flashpoint between the ECI and opposition parties and civil society groups. The platform alleged the exercise is illegal and demanded the voter lists be reset to their pre-2024 version and updated through social audits as laid down in the Election Commission Manual and CAG guidelines.

The platform listed six “immediate” bottomlines and a second set of “key” demands. It has sought the removal and prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, whom it referred to as “Gyanesh”. It also sought revocation of the ECI’s legal immunity.

“Remove & Prosecute Gyanesh! Reset Our Voter List!” is the platform’s central slogan. It also wants no further elections on the basis of the SIR voter list. The list of states named in the release is Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. All state elections held on the basis of the SIR should be annulled,” the release said.

The release described these seven states as having “2024 Assembly Elections”.

The platform also demanded that the ECINET app be made open source so that it can be “publicly audited”. Besides, it sought an overhaul of the process for selecting ECI members, including rules on tenure. It also demanded a reversal of all orders issued to launch the SIR, including those relating to ration cards, government schemes and detention.

“All SIR related docs on decision making” should be placed on public record, the platform said. It also demanded the ECI stop asking questions on citizenship during voter verification. The pre-2024 list, it said, should be the base for any public audit and updating.

The platform’s wider agenda goes beyond the SIR. It said it will “strongly resist” delimitation, a caste census, a demographic survey and the One Nation One Election plan. These, it said, threaten the integrity of electoral democracy, and called for electoral reforms instead.

On the ground, the platform has planned a “No SIR” campaign under the slogan “Har Galli Jantar Mantar, Har Gaon Jantar Mantar, Mera Ghar Jantar Mantar”. A nationwide Street Action Day is set for October 23. The campaign will take the form of people’s marches, parliaments, conventions and referendums at “Jantar Mantars” across the country.

The platform also condemned the de-notification of Jantar Mantar in Delhi and said it is preparing to “reclaim” it. “Stop police brutality!” it said. It did not specify what incident of police action it was referring to.

It also condemned the arrests of CJP leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, who were sent to five days’ police remand. “We demand their unconditional release immediately,” the release said. The details of the case and the charges were not given in the statement, and police had not commented at the time of filing.

Other planned steps include an open letter to the President and public outreach to explain what the platform calls the “illegality” of the SIR. State conventions on “No SIR” and electoral integrity will continue in all states. Public audits of voter lists will be expanded to additional states, with what the release calls “stepped up youth engagement”.

The platform also appealed to all political parties to “defend the constitution and democracy” and join the protest. It did not say whether any party, including those in the Opposition, has formally agreed to do so. The ruling BJP has not commented on the platform’s formation.

The platform has also decided to set up an All India Coordination Committee to steer its actions. The release was issued in the name of this committee.