NCP-SP Stages Protest In Pune Over SIR, Seeks Inquiry Into Voter-List Revision

On Thursday, the NCP-SP political alliance held a protest outside the Pune District Collector's Office in Pune, Maharashtra. Their grievance was directed towards the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of updating electoral rolls. The party's West Pune unit, led by president Vishal Vilasrao Tambe, submitted a formal representation addressed to the President through the District Collector and District Election Officer.

Their concerns revolved around the deletion of voters' names, challenges citizens encountered in rectifying their names, and the functioning of the Election Commission during SIR. They demanded an independent inquiry into Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's handling of the SIR process, voter registration, deletion, and restoration of names, changes via Form 6, and the utilization of the digital voter database.

The protest surfaced as some Pune voters were found with their names missing from the draft roll. The Indian Express had earlier reported voters discovering their names excluded from the draft list, marked under categories like 'permanently shifted'. In their memorandum, the NCP-SP demanded immediate restoration of deleted names found to have errors, transparency in the deletion process and a mechanism for voters to appeal against name deletions from local to central level. They also called for an independent audit of the voter database and digital systems.