“Whether we stand shoulder-to-shoulder or not is a matter for the future. However, we have been saying from the very beginning that SIR is a ‘backdoor NRC’. I reiterate that the country’s Home Minister has constituted a commission, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, tasked with examining the demographic changes in areas where the final NRC was implemented; the Home Minister has stated that they will review the final NRC list,” Owaisi told ANI.

“What does that imply? It proves our point that this is a backdoor NRC; sooner or later, this government will implement the NRC and use this very voter list as the basis. You will find yourself standing in line again, being asked to produce documents. It is causing so much trouble. In my own constituency, I see people whose names are missing and who are facing immense hardship,” he added.

His comments come amid a wider political dispute over the Election Commission and the SIR exercise. The row intensified following a report by The Indian Express claiming that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over a 10-month period regarding decisions and procedures linked to the revision exercise.

Opposition parties seek united front

Left parties and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have been seeking a broader Opposition campaign over the functioning of the Election Commission and the SIR process.

Former West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, addressing a rally in Hooghly, called for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleged that the SIR exercise had been used to target West Bengal.

“Vanish Kumar must go. Until he leaves, our movement continues and will continue. Those who are guilty must be arrested. You have no right to disenfranchise voters, to loot votes,” Banerjee said.

She also demanded that the SIR list be scrapped and the previous voter list used for elections.

“This SIR list must be scrapped. The vote must be held using the old list. And those whose names were forcibly removed must be compensated,” she said.

CPI(M) General Secretary MA Baby has called for a wider campaign against the Election Commission’s functioning, saying his party had reached out to organisations beyond the INDIA bloc. He said the CPI(M) had also written to the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) as part of efforts to build a broader movement.

CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said an INDIA bloc meeting was expected on September 30 to discuss the SIR exercise and concerns surrounding the Election Commission. He suggested that the discussion should extend beyond parties within the bloc.

Rahul Gandhi targets CEC over alleged BJP recruitment claim

The controversy also drew Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s intervention after he accused Gyanesh Kumar of “match-fixing elections”.

Gandhi cited a Malayalam news channel report claiming that the CEC had approached former Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson to contest elections on a BJP ticket.

“First, Gyanesh Kumar – then a serving IAS officer – was used to recruit for the BJP. Then Modi and Shah made him the umpire and put him in charge of match-fixing India’s elections,” Gandhi said on X.

The Congress’s Kerala unit had shared an Asianet report on X alleging that Thomson said Gyanesh Kumar had approached him and offered him a BJP ticket and a ministerial position.

Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has also called for Gyanesh Kumar’s removal and demanded re-verification.

The Election Commission, however, has maintained that all decisions concerning the SIR exercise were taken with the “unanimous approval of the Commission”.

The poll panel also clarified that a letter sent to the Cabinet Secretary, which had come under scrutiny, concerned the functioning of an officer on deputation and was not related to any policy decision of the Commission.

(With ANI inputs)