Chennai: DMK president and former chief minister M K Stalin will hold a meeting of his MPs at the party headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, on Saturday amid protests by INDIA bloc MPs in Delhi against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi Rajathi Karunanidhi on Friday said the BJP govt at the Centre had been destroying the constitutional ethos.The meeting at the headquarters is expected to focus on the party’s opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demands for Kumar’s removal from the Election Commission. “From the very beginning, we have been completely opposed to the SIR. It remains to be seen what decision the leadership takes on the future course of action, including whether to pass a resolution seeking Gyanesh Kumar’s removal from the Election Commission,” a senior DMK leader said. The leadership has not disclosed the agenda. However, some MPs believe the meeting could also discuss the proposed delimitation Bill, amid reports that a special session of Parliament may be convened later this month.Addressing a students’ protest seeking Kumar’s removal, Kanimozhi said the BJP-led govt had reduced parliamentary sittings because it lacked faith in Parliament. “More than 13 crore voters across the country and 74 lakh voters in Tamil Nadu lost their right to vote because of the SIR. In Kolathur, where our leader M K Stalin contested, the names of one lakh voters were removed from the electoral roll, whereas the deletions should not have exceeded 20,000,” she said. Kanimozhi later told reporters that the DMK had warned people about the SIR from the outset, with Stalin raising the issue even before the elections.She alleged that the Union govt was using the SIR to weaken opposition parties, particularly regional parties fighting for their states’ rights, identity and language. “It gives a lot of confidence when the youth of the country have come together to protest against the SIR, and DMK stands by them,” she said.
