Kolkata, Oct. 2 -- Left parties staged a protest march on Friday demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and restoration of voting rights for people whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls. The demonstration was part of a nationwide campaign against the Election Commission (EC) and in defence of Constitutional rights.
The march began at Rani Rashmoni Avenue after a brief meeting chaired by CPI(M) politburo member Sreedeep Bhattacharya. CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim alleged that the EC had been used to deprive people of their voting rights and accused the BJP-led government of influencing the deletion of names during the SIR.
"Gyanesh Kumar is an agent of the RSS," Salim alleged, demanding his removal before the deleted names are restored. He also criticised the EC's recent direction prioritising the restoration of names deleted during the SIR, saying the commission was now "licking its own wounds".
Salim accused the Centre of weakening Constitutional rights, federalism and India's independent foreign policy, while alleging that public sector enterprises were being handed over to corporates.
Police stopped the marchers near Kolkata Press Club. Salim, Bhattacharya and CPI(ML) Liberation leaders Kartik Pal and Basudev Bose later separately proceeded to the Netaji statue to pay homage after being denied permission to do so as a group.
The protest formed part of a wider CPI(M)-led INDIA bloc programme held between September 28 and October 2.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.