Congress appoints 208 observers to oversee its nationwide Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao campaign against SIR

The Congress party has appointed 208 leaders as observers to monitor its nationwide Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao campaign against the Chief Election Commissioner and the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The observers, including senior leaders like Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Avinash Pande, Prithviraj Chavan, Nana Patole, K.S.

Suresh, Ashok Tanwar and Ajoy Kumar, will collaborate with State units to oversee the campaign across clusters of districts, enhance booth-level mobilization, and rectify organizational shortcomings.

The decision to appoint the observers was approved by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and announced by general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal on Friday night. The campaign, which gained momentum after a meeting chaired by Kharge on October 5, seeks to challenge the SIR exercise and press for the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

At the meeting, the Congress unveiled plans to reach out to over 13.3 crore voters whose names had been deleted from electoral rolls. Booth-level agents, known as vote rakshaks (vote guardians), were tasked with identifying affected voters and assisting them in re-enrolment. The campaign also includes block-level marches, village meetings, and grassroots mobilization to raise awareness about voting rights.

The party maintains that the issue extends beyond electoral politics and concerns citizens' constitutional right to vote. The latest appointments aim to strengthen coordination between the party's central leadership and its State and district units as the campaign intensifies.