Sonia Gandhi joins INDIA-bloc protest in Parliament complex against EC's Bihar move

Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday joined Opposition-bloc INDIA's protest in the Parliament House complex against the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in Bihar.

Opposition MPs, right from the start of the ongoing Monsoon Session, have been demanding the rollback of EC's SIR move in Bihar. The Opposition has also been demanding a discussion on the issue in both Houses.

Ahead of the start of the day's proceedings, top leaders and MPs of the opposition, including those of the Congress, DMK, TMC, Samajwadi Party, JMM, RJD and Left parties, assembled outside the Makar Dwar of Parliament and raised slogans against the government and the SIR of electoral rolls.

Top leaders from the Congress, including Sonia Gandhi, general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and KC Venugopal, Samajwadi Party's Ziaur Rahman Barq, TMC's Kirti Azad, DMK's A Raja, besides others, raised slogans like "Save democracy" and "Stop vote-bandi".

They put up a huge banner in front of them, which read 'SIR- Loktantra par Vaar', as they lined up on the steps of the Makar Dwar of Parliament and staged a protest for the third consecutive day.

The Opposition has been protesting in both Houses of Parliament against the SIR, alleging that the EC's exercise was aimed at disenfranchising voters in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections.