NEW DELHI, Oct. 1 -- Opposition parties on Wednesday demanded that paper ballots replace electronic voting machines (EVMs) and announced a five-point programme targeting the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The INDIA bloc accused the CEC and the government of manipulating voter rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise to subvert electoral integrity. "Everyone has decided to fight together in a united manner," declared Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge after a three-and-a-half-hour strategy session. He confirmed that all participating leaders "100% agreed that instead of EVMs, paper ballots should be used". He also called for reversing recent election law amendments. A Congress leader said it was a reference to the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants legal immunity to the CEC and Election Commissioners. "Modi and Shah are treating the Election Commission of India as their puppet. They are winning elections by deceit," Kharge said, comparing the SIR deletions to the 2016 high-value currency ban. "First, Modi did notebandi; now he is doing votebandi to rob citizens of their rights." To be sure, HT's analysis of SIR deletions by constituency has shown no correlation with the outcome; and some of the deletions have been caused by death and migration. But the exclusion of millions of voters from draft rolls - in Delhi, 33% of the UT's 14.5 million voters were excluded- has resulted in public angst and anxiety. Revelations by the Indian Express last week that two election commissioners disagreed with some of the decisions, and that the central database of electors wasn't accessible to on-ground officers tasked with adding and deleting names have caused a stir. The Election Commission has since clarified that all decisions have been unanimous, based on the majority, and also modified the SIR process to reduce the inconvenience to voters. As part of the five-point programme, Kharge said the INDIA bloc leaders would organise "Save Democracy" marches throughout the country from October 2 to 8 with the involvement of the general public, youth and "everyone who believe in democracy and unity". Opposition MPs would march to the Election Commission on October 6....