Udupi Congress stages protest over SIR drive, seeks CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation
Coastal Talk News | Udupi
Udupi District Congress Committee staged a protest in front of the Udupi DC’s office in Manipal on Monday, demanding the resignation and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Addressing the protesters, Udupi District Congress Committee president Kishan Hegde Kolkebailu said Gyanesh Kumar should resign over what he described as actions against the Constitution. Coastal Development Board Chairman M.A. Gafoor said former Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan had set an example, while alleging that the present functioning of the Election Commission under Gyanesh Kumar had undermined constitutional values.
Gafoor also claimed that the deletion of more than 13 crore names during the SIR exercise was alarming. Congress leader Veronica Carnelio said young people were questioning what she described as the authoritarian functioning of the CEC. She also alleged that voters from economically weaker and minority communities had been targeted during SIR in several states. Congress leaders Gopal Poojary, Ashok Kumar Kodavoor, Prasadraj Kanchan, Raju Poojary, Harish Kini, Ramesh Kanchan, Dinesh Puthran, B Narasimhamurthy, Bhaskar Rao Kidiyoor, Kushal Shetty, Dinesh Hegde and Hariprasad Rai, among others, took part in the protest. Later protesters tried to lay a siege to DC's office, however police stopped the protesters.
