New Delhi [India], December 2 (ANI): Opposition parties are set to intensify their protests in Parliament and outside its gates on Tuesday as the controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the Centre’s new mandate on the Sanchar Saathi mobile application continues to escalate.
On the second day of the Winter Session, MPs of the INDIA bloc will stage a demonstration outside the Makar Dwar at 10:30 am, demanding an immediate debate on the SIR process that is currently underway across 12 States and Union Territories. The Lok Sabha had already witnessed repeated adjournments on Monday amid loud protests and sloganeering by the Opposition, who accuse the government of conducting the revision exercise in a rushed and arbitrary manner.
Congress MP Manickam Tagore said the bloc has unanimously decided to demand a detailed discussion on the SIR. “This is about the fundamental right to vote. In Bihar alone, 62 lakh voters have been removed. BLOs are under extreme pressure—some are taking their own lives. We need a full debate in Parliament. Democracy must be protected,” he said.
Congress MP Digvijaya Singh also criticised the SIR, comparing its documentation requirements to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). “This is not the traditional SIR that verified voters through door-to-door checks. This is CAA in disguise. People are being asked to prove citizenship. We object strongly,” he said.
The Opposition is simultaneously raising concerns over the Department of Telecommunications’ recent directive mandating the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app on all mobile handsets. Congress MP KC Venugopal called the move “unconstitutional” and a “dystopian tool of surveillance,” invoking George Orwell’s 1984.
“A pre-loaded government app that cannot be uninstalled is an attempt to monitor every movement and interaction of citizens. Big Brother cannot watch us,” Venugopal wrote on X, demanding an immediate rollback. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi echoed the criticism, calling it another “Big Boss surveillance moment” and vowed public protests against the directive.
The DoT, however, maintains that the app is intended to protect citizens by verifying handset authenticity, preventing fraud, and enabling reporting of lost or misused devices. Manufacturers have 90 days to comply and 120 days to file a compliance report.
Inside Parliament, the Opposition’s pushback continued with multiple adjournment motions submitted in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Manickam Tagore, KC Venugopal, and Kanyakumari MP Vijay Vasanth each filed notices urging the immediate suspension of the SIR exercise, citing voter-roll errors, extreme workload on BLOs, public confusion, and reported deaths of field staff.
Tagore described the revision as “an unprecedented crisis,” Venugopal called it “arbitrary and poorly planned,” and Vasanth warned that the chaos could erode trust in India’s electoral system.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi criticised the Opposition for “creating ruckus over baseless issues,” asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had rightly urged MPs to work constructively. She said the Opposition should learn lessons from the Bihar election results.
As protests continue, the Lok Sabha is scheduled to take up the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman set to introduce changes aimed at raising excise duties and cess on tobacco products.
With tensions rising both inside and outside Parliament, the second day of the Winter Session is expected to witness continued disruptions, heated exchanges, and ongoing Opposition demonstrations over electoral reform and privacy concerns. (ANI)
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