INDIA bloc to step up anti-SIR campaign with Bengaluru protest on Nov 5

The INDIA bloc will hold a protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on November 5 against the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, marking its second major show on the issue this month after a similar event in Delhi.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president BK Hariprasad announced the protest on Tuesday and said leaders of INDIA bloc constituents, including the CPI(M), Forward Bloc, Samajwadi Party and Indian Union Muslim League, have agreed to participate in the protest.

Hariprasad said the agitation is a continuation of the opposition's campaign against the SIR exercise and will be expanded across Karnataka. The Congress has directed its district units to hold protests on Wednesday and take the campaign to the taluk and block levels in the coming weeks.


Congress Working Committee member Siddaramaiah is expected to attend the Bengaluru protest, while Chief Minister DK Shivakumar will join after the Cabinet meeting, the KPCC president said.

The protest comes amid growing opposition criticism of the ECI’s voter roll revision exercise. The INDIA bloc has alleged that the process could lead to the exclusion of eligible voters if not carried out transparently, a charge rejected by the poll panel.

This will be the second major protest on the issue at Freedom Park within a month. On October 8, civil society groups, student organisations, activists and digital content creators had gathered at the venue to oppose the SIR exercise, alleging that it could result in large-scale voter disenfranchisement in Karnataka.

Protesters at the event had claimed that more than 10 million voters in the state could potentially face deletion from electoral rolls.