NEW DELHI: While some Opposition-ruled states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal have intensified their protest against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the INDIA bloc is yet to come up with a collective strategy on the issue.
The DMK government in Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court on Monday challenging the SIR exercise, while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit the streets on Tuesday. The Kerala government is holding an all-party meeting to discuss the future course of action on the electoral roll revision.
However, the INDIA bloc parties haven’t had a joint meeting or discussion ever since the EC announced the SIR for 12 states and Union Territories on October 27, a senior Opposition leader told this paper.
As the principal Opposition party, the onus lies with the Congress, the leader said. “The actions are now limited to the state level and there is no coordination between Opposition parties at the national level. The SIR exercise has already begun in some states and there is hardly any time left,” said the leader, pointing out that the INDIA bloc leadership could have planned joint press conferences or protests in the national capital.
Speaking to this paper, a senior Congress leader said that the party is likely to discuss the matter after the Bihar election. Significantly, the monsoon session of Parliament was a near washout the Congress-led Opposition insisted on a discussion on Bihar’s SIR.
Although the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was part of the protests against the SIR during Parliament’s monsoon session, the party now seems to be in no mood to be together with the INDIA bloc on this.
TMC’s Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy told this paper that the “TMC will fight this battle alone”. Another Opposition leader told this paper that the Congress is not taking the initiative as the SIR is not taking place in any of the Congress-ruled states. “In other states, they are only allies,” he said.
