NEW DELHI: Opposition parties on Tuesday kept up their protests inside and outside Parliament over issues such as duplicate EPIC numbers, the three-language formula and delimitation but did not stall House proceedings.
On the alleged “voter card fraud” that Trinamool Congress first flagged with a list of duplicate EPIC numbers, the party was supported by Congress, BJD and others which walked out of Rajya Sabha in the morning. Later, a TMC delegation of 10 MPs marched to the Election Commission for a meeting with the poll panel. BJD also met the full bench of the EC to flag the issue.
DMK MPs staged a protest in the Parliament complex against the three-language formula under the new National Education Policy and demanded that education minister Dharmendra Pradhan apologise for his remarks against the Tamil Nadu govt. Congress MPs from Tamil Nadu wore black in solidarity and joined the protest. DMK MPs raised slogans outside the House and carried posters saying ‘Tamil Nadu educates, BJP manipulates’. MDMK MP Vaiko alleged the three-language policy was aimed at destroying states.
TMC leaders met the EC and alleged that Aadhaar cards were being cloned which could lead to the possibility of these being used for fake voter registrations. The party demanded that the EC issue a separate list of voter deletions, new additions and modifications with every new revised poll roll.
Party MP Sagarika Ghose expressed scepticism over the poll panel’s recent statement assuring that the concerns would be addressed in three months. “This is an extremely serious issue. Ever since West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee flagged the issue, all parties have realised it’s a serious issue that poses a threat to electoral democracy,” she said, adding, “The EC says it will resolve the issue in three months… We are asking if you don’t even know the number, how are you giving the deadline?”
On the delimitation issue, Rajya Sabha proceedings were disrupted for about 40 minutes as opposition MPs stormed the well, protesting the impact of constituency redrawing based solely on population, which they argued would disadvantage southern states.
