Prakash Raj, Dhruv Rathee join hands with Dipke, stage protest against SIR

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and actor-activist Prakash Raj led a protest here on Thursday against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, demanding his immediate resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls.

Protesters from various walks of life, including women and students, gathered in large numbers at Freedom Park and the mood dramatically turned electric, with unceasing slogan-shouting, demanding the scrapping of the SIR exercise and asking Gyanesh Kumar to step down.

According to the organisers, the protest, a people's tribunal for the victims of SIR from across Karnataka, will be followed by a "Chappal protest" in solidarity with women.

 

"Error 404 - Name Not Found", and "It's done bro, resign sir" and "Don't erase us, hear us," were among the slogans found on posters waved by protesters.

Some protesters also raised slogans like "Dictatorship will not be tolerated", "vote theft", "Gyanesh Kumar Gaddi leave your chair." Posters featuring freedom fighters Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose also appeared along with other posters like "Grand Theft Democracy." Mujibur Rehman, a Bengaluru-based software engineer, said, "It is our democratic right. We have been robbed of our right to vote. We have to be together to save democracy, because I have lost my own vote." He alleged that his name had been deleted and said he did not know who had submitted the Form-7 application seeking deletion of his name.

Police said tight security arrangements are in place to ensure that no untoward incident took place.