Indian opposition submits SIR concerns to President Murmu

Indian opposition leaders have submitted a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu, alleging irregularities in the electoral process and raising concerns over the Election Commission of India's (ECI) functioning during the revision of voter lists.

The leaders marched from Parliament House towards Rashtrapati Bhavan today (9 October) to present their concerns following the deletion of voters as part of the update of electoral rolls.

Speaking to the media after meeting the president, Rahul alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had conspired to undermine Indian democracy.

"First, we submitted a memorandum to the President of India. In that memorandum, we clearly stated that the Prime Minister, Amit Shah and (Chief Election Commissioner) Gyanesh Kumar have conspired to destroy Indian democracy," he said.

Rahul said Murmu had not challenged their allegations during the meeting but had asked them to provide evidence of what the opposition described as electoral fraud.

"The President did not question our statements or argue against them in any way," he said.

He added, "She then told us that we needed to provide her with proof of election chori. I told her that the evidence of election chori is known to the entire country. Elections have been stolen, state after state. The 2024 (national) election, as you know, has been stolen."

Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was part of the INDIA bloc delegation, said Murmu had promised to examine the details and asked the opposition to submit evidence supporting its claims.

"The President said she will go through the details and she needs evidence. She has asked us to send the, which we said we will...The country is very concerned and you, as a custodian of the Constitution, should take proper care so the democracy remains...," Banerjee said.

She said the delegation had urged the president to act to protect democracy, given her responsibility as custodian of the Constitution.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the delegation had called for replacing electronic voting machines (EVMs) with paper ballots.

"We demanded that EVMs be set aside and elections be conducted using ballot papers," he said.

Kharge said the opposition had met Murmu to brief her on a protest launched four days earlier over alleged vote theft and what it described as serious errors by Gyanesh Kumar.

He said the delegation had presented its concerns in detail and that the president had asked for evidence of the alleged electoral irregularities.

The opposition was compiling the material and would submit it, Kharge said.

He also accused Modi and Shah of taking steps intended to undermine democracy in the country.