NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday said it would not participate in the Congress-led opposition INDIA bloc’s march to the Election Commission office, saying it was “fighting this battle in our own way.“Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said protests against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were being held daily at different places across the country.He added that the AAP was not even using its own banner, as it considers the issue a “people’s movement” concerning citizens across the country and believes everyone should participate in it.“The CJP’s (Cockroach Janta Party) protest is also being held, and different organisations are also holding protests. The Left is also protesting in different places. As far as tomorrow’s protest is concerned, it is the INDIA bloc’s protest. So, the AAP is not part of it. We are fighting this battle in our own way,” Singh told reporters at the Parliament House complex.Two parties formerly aligned with the INDIA bloc, the AAP and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), had also skipped the alliance’s September 30 meeting to decide its response to an Indian Express report concerning the EC. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was absent as well, but sent party representatives to attend the meeting.Some other leaders, including Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) president Hemant Soren, participated virtually.
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After the meeting, attended by the Congress and 18 other opposition parties, INDIA bloc leaders announced that they and all its MPs would march to the Election Commission’s headquarters in the capital on October 6. The leaders would also meet President Droupadi Murmu to raise concerns over alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.The call for the protest came amid a controversy over the functioning of the EC, with opposition parties alleging irregularities in the poll panel’s handling of the SIR exercise.An investigation by The Indian Express last month reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders related to the SIR, which they alleged had been issued without their knowledge or recommendation. Sandhu and Joshi also reportedly termed specific changes made to voter enrolment forms “unauthorised” and “illegal”.The EC has rejected suggestions of a split within the three-member panel, maintaining that decisions relating to the SIR were taken unanimously.(With PTI inputs)
