Dhruv Rathee to Join SIR Protest in Bengaluru, Prakash Raj Confirms
People’s Tribunal and Chappal Protest to be held at Freedom Park on October 8 over concerns surrounding voter list revision
Bengaluru: Popular YouTuber and political commentator Dhruv Rathee will join a protest against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bengaluru on Thursday, October 8. Actor and social activist Prakash Raj confirmed Rathee’s participation in a social media video.
The programme will be held at Freedom Park and is scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM with a People’s Tribunal on the SIR process. According to the organisers, people from different parts of Karnataka who claim to have been wrongly removed from the electoral rolls will share their experiences at the tribunal.
The event is being organised by the Cockroach Janta Party, CJP, led by founder Abhijeet Dipke, along with civil society groups and youth organisations. The People’s Tribunal will be followed by a symbolic Chappal Protest, which organisers say is being held in solidarity with women.
Prakash Raj has urged citizens, students and members of civil society to attend the programme in large numbers. He said the event would provide a platform for people affected by the SIR process to raise their concerns. These statements reflect the position of the organisers and participants.
Apart from Prakash Raj and Dhruv Rathee, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, spokesperson Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka, Neha Bora, Aishe Ghosh and representatives of youth and civil society organisations are expected to participate in the programme.
Civil society groups involved in the event have raised concerns over alleged wrongful deletions from electoral rolls during the SIR process. They have demanded that such deletions be reviewed and that the electoral rolls existing before the SIR be retained. These are demands raised by the organisers and are not established findings of the Election Commission.
The Bengaluru programme is part of a wider campaign by CJP and allied groups. The organisation has also announced a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on October 10, where it plans to raise demands concerning the SIR process and seek the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.